


'I'll see your face again'

by IHaveNiamFeels



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Liam, M/M, Mpreg, Top Louis, liam is pregnant, lilo paynlinson - Freeform, this is fluffy im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 12:38:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5785624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IHaveNiamFeels/pseuds/IHaveNiamFeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam Payne gets pregnant was annoyingly famous performer Louis Tomlinson by a one night stand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'I'll see your face again'

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this ! I put a lot of thought and effort into this ! The title comes from ‘Walking In The Wind’ it kinda makes no sense but I thought it was fitting. I already have an idea for another one shot, but it will take some time with my final year of school starting back in less than a week.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated ! 
> 
> -KahliaPayne

                                                                                         

**‘I’ll see your face again’**

Liam Payne considered himself as a normal average person. He worked for up and coming musical sensation Niall Horan. Liam was his producer, songwriter, manager and promoter. He loved his job the overwhelming feeling of getting to walk around and help somebody become successful in their career. Liam considered his life wonderful until famous, totally lovable, dickhead Louis Tomlinson waltzed in.

It all started when Liam attended a party Niall had originally been invited to by singer and actor Harry Styles and Niall was keen to drag Liam along. The brunette had never been keen on overwhelming crowds and drunken behaviour, but he went along anyway. Told himself he might find a song muse there.

He had no intentions to drink either, but one thing led to another and he found himself downing shots of vodka and tequila with a group of guys Liam never knew the names of. It was always a bit messy when Liam got drunk, he slurred his words. Generally made no sense and threw himself at anybody who was willing enough to dance with him.

He guessed that’s how he ended up in the arms of Louis Tomlinson, known for being good at absolutely everything, singing, dancing, acting. You name it he’s done it. Everybody Liam knows despises and envies him. Liam doesn’t remember much, just Louis asking him if he wanted a drink, and the glint that hid in the blue eyes. Obviously Liam agreed, because who doesn’t want to have a drink with Louis Tomlinson?

He remembers blabbering off about Niall, because Niall is his little project, his job and being the blonde’s promoter, it’s of natural habit to riddle off stuff about him. Louis listens, hands folded around the beer he is sipping on and he seems to laugh at things Liam says and Liam finds that wonderful. He’d never been considered somebody who was funny before.

Liam remembers the dancing, that went from hip swaying to grinding, from grinding to kissing, from kissing to heated snogging, from heated snogging to ending up in the back seat of Louis’ car with the buttons of his shirt undone and hands on Louis’ thigh and after that Liam didn’t remember much, maybe glimpses at the pleasure and Louis’ sweet words.

Liam woke up in an unfamiliar bed, clothes discarded everywhere, he can clearly identify his batman boxers by the nightstand and his shirt is wedged between the bedroom door and wardrobe. That’s when he discovers he’s naked, and the small parts he remember helped him piece everything together. You didn’t need to be smart to figure it out, and the person he was with; Louis, is nowhere in sight. But before Liam gets up, he noticed the small slip of crinkled paper, he has _‘call me when ur in town again - Louis ;)’_

Liam rolled over onto his stomach to stretch and check his phone, noticing the new contact number lodged under L. He dropped his face into the swell of the pillow and cracked his bones. Liam then texted Niall, letting him know he was safe and well. He figured out he was stationed in a pose and overly priced hotel room, and seeing as he wasn’t in any rush to leave he decided to drag out his stay as long as he could. Getting out of the warmth of a huge bed was harder than Liam thought it would be, but the shower was twice as amazing. He felt like a million bucks, all his stress had been relieved.

Eventually he had to go down to the studio to finalize a song he had written and Niall was going to record. They had been working on Niall’s upcoming album for most of that year now. Liam raced home to quickly change clothes, before meeting Niall at the studio and the first thing Liam is teased for is the huge red hickey on his collarbone and he is left stuttering and blushing.

It was unusual for Liam to come to work with these things, because he hadn’t been with anybody for nearly a whole year, most of his musical muse came from his ex who really shattered his heart. So Niall teasing him and demanding answers wasn’t unexpected and there was no point trying to cover it up. Liam already knew Niall had a thing going on with Harry.

\----  
Liam was perfectly fine for a whole month, until he woke up one morning for his morning jog. He was getting dressed when his whole body tensed up, eyes crinkling shut as he dropped onto his knees by the toilet, heaving sadly into the bowl. It was always very rare for Liam to get sick he was a health freak, he stayed clear of carbs and unhealthy food. Liam was a fitness fanatic also, lived at the gym or going on long runs.

This was a setback for Liam, as he was already running fifteen minutes behind schedule, he felt awful and the thought of going on a jog made his stomach churn all over again. He flushed whilst managing to stand up. He leaned against the sink and turned the shower on. He needed to soak up all the illness and flush it down the drain.

Liam was sick again in the shower but by lunch time he was starving, stomach doing flips as he took the short walk to the studio in the drizzling rain, head down and hands shoved in his pocket. He still felt horrible, his head hurt as well as the numb dull pain in the pit of his abdomen. It was times like these when he hated his job, wanted to be curled up in a ball and be able to sleep all day until he felt better, but the studio and Niall were calling him. Literally.

Upon arriving to the studio he stopped by a cafe and got himself a herbal tea and a gluten free fruit muffin. He barely ate it, was turned off it as soon as he walked through the doors of the warm studio. He was glad to be out of his soaked jacket and flopping down in the closet chair. He wanted to sleep, but he also had a writing muse and needed to finalize Niall’s performance for the Teen Choice Awards.

“Liam, you look awful. Hangover?” Niall asked when he came strolling back down the hallway of the studio with his guitar and laptop. The blonde pressed the back of his hand to Liam’s forehead, brows furrowed. “You aren’t warm.” He stated, sitting down opposite the dull, hooded lad. Who mildly scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“It’s not a hangover, I think I’ve caught something. Probably a typical twenty four hour bug.” Liam assured, turning back to his sheet of paper. He was thankful that Niall didn’t have to record that week because boy was he wrong, this definitely wasn’t a twenty four hour bug because the same thing repeated the next morning.

After a week of Liam being sick, having horrific migraines and cramps that was causing him to vomit and lay on the floor of the shower. He dragged himself to the doctors, he was ill. He knew that but he was hoping it wasn’t kidney related, he had to play the piano and manage Niall at the TCA’s in a week time. He couldn’t afford to be sick. His life depended on his job.

Liam was seen by a doctor housed in a private clinic, which meant it wasn’t open for the public. Liam wasn’t necessarily famous or a celebrity but he had been hunted down before when Niall was going through a rough patch, and really anybody with money could buy their way into a private clinic, it wasn’t all that hard.

His doctor, Dr. Vixen took him straight in. Liam was the first patient of the day, and the waiting room was already piled up with mountains of people. He sat down and riddled off his symptoms and how he felt. He generally just felt like shit all the time now really.

“This is quite personal Liam, but I need to confirm my theory. Roughly how long has it been since you’ve been physically intimate with somebody?” Dr Vixen asked, Liam splattered slightly flashing a bright blush.

“uh, I think it was around a month ago.” He replied, still blushing because heck was that personal and right to the point. Liam could see Dr Vixen pursing his lips and scribbling into his small booklet. “what does this mean though?”

“I can’t give you a final answer without bloods, a urine sample and an ultrasound but I have a very basic and broad idea of what this is. If you could lay down for me I’ll do bloods and set up the machine.” The older male asked and Liam obeyed. He wanted this over and done with. If he was critically ill and need immediate medical attention he wanted to know now.

Once the doctor had taken blood and Liam had peed in a cup he left Liam laying in the clinic room for fifteen minutes. “Okay, Liam. The results of your blood test won’t come in for a few days, but I got the answers from your urine sample.” He smiled, wheeling his chair over towards Liam and switching the ultrasound machine on. “You’re pregnant.”

Liam felt his walls cave in almost instantly and he immediately started crying, this couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be, this was going to be a pop star's baby, he couldn’t do that. Not to himself nor to Louis. Thinking about Louis made him cry more, because what the hell was he going to do now? There was literally no way out of this, unless he had an abortion.

He spent another half an hour in the clinic, being given a blue booklet with ‘I’m expecting’ written on the front, it was a baby book for the medication Liam was on, appointments, names, how many weeks. He was to bring it to every appointment so the doctor could leave notes. Tucked away in the clear pocket at the back of the booklet was the sonogram. The baby, (which really wasn’t a baby yet.) had been circled in red and pointed out for Liam clearly. He sat in his car for fifteen minutes just staring at the picture. His baby.

He had to pull over halfway home because his emotions were running high and he felt sick, which caused him to vomit on the side of the road until the heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach eased slightly. It felt awful and awkward walking into a pharmacy to buy pregnancy related items, with people who probably knew who he was staring at him like they had seen a ghost. Or though Liam was pretty certain he was as pale as one.

Niall texted him when he arrived home and was curled up protectively in his bed. His doctor had put him on a strict diet, but he also needed carbs. Liam was to walk once daily, it didn’t matter where to, but he preferred it over him jogging. He wasn’t allowed to just live on vegetables and fruit. Dr Vixen had given him a list of suitable foods to eat whilst pregnant. But really all Liam was interested in now was eating ice cream and chocolate.

_‘Niall, come over pls, bring chocolate, ice cream and a movie of your choice. I need a cuddle. Li x’_

**‘i’m on my way now, something wrong?’**

_‘it’s a disaster Niall, I’ll tell u when u get here.’_

Liam felt into a restless sleep until Niall arrived and as soon as he did he burst into tears all over again and curled his blonde friend close against his chest. He loved Niall, he loved him like a brother, a best friend and work mate. He was overly grateful to have him really. Niall just let Liam cry until he could make and understand the words coming out of his mouth, it was mostly gibberish, but Niall didn’t mind at all.

“Liam, you wanna tell me what the doctor said then?” Niall asked, once Liam had calmed down from crying and had a spoonful of ice cream wedged in between his lips. His skin was puffy and red, blotchy and sore, he was sad.

“He told me I was pregnant.” Liam admitted, there was no point fumbling around with it, because it was still going to be a shock either way. He sniffled and used the back of his jumper sleeve to wipe his runny nose and watery eyes. The salt from his tears burning against his sad skin. He watched Niall’s face go from concerned to shocked, then back to concerned again his eyebrows furrowed.

“Pregnant? With whom?” He questioned, Liam was waiting for that question. He didn’t want the world to know though, he didn’t want to tell Niall and have him tell Harry and then have Harry tell everybody else, because he didn’t even know what he was going to do just yet. He wanted to be the one who told Louis, not have him hear it through a line of chinese whispers. But Niall wasn’t the type of person who would blab off personal information. He did trust him.

“Louis.”

“Louis who?”

“Louis awfully famous Tomlinson.” Liam sighed, shovelling another mouthful of ice cream into his pale lips, before snapping off a piece of chocolate and chewing on it sadly. Niall gasped, hands flying to the edge of his chest like he had just been shot. It was an awful feeling, Liam knew what it felt like.

“how far? When did you two hook up?”

“You remember the party you dragged me to, that Harry hosted or whatever? Well I got horrifically drunk and somehow ended up in the arms of Louis and then it went from there really and before you ask. No I don’t remember much, I remember kissing in the back of a car but it really just ended there. That was a month ago.”

“and the two of you haven’t spoken since?”

“nope.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Niall asked, Liam sighed at that because of course he was, he had too. This was a part of Louis too, this was a creation of the two of them. But he honestly didn’t know when or how he was going to tell him. It was going to be a very awkward and somewhat heated conversation, he knew that.

“of course I will, I have too. It’s part of him to you know, but I just- I just don’t know when or how, I have his number but I haven’t got as far as sending him a text. I chicken out every time.” He admitted, resting his chin on the frame of his bed as he flipped through the channels of his now muted television. It still made him feel like he was having some of dream.

“Liam, are you one hundred percent sure it’s his? Because as soon as the press get a hold of this there is no going back, if they find out it’s some dirty hobo’s baby when it’s born you know what’s going to happen to your reputation right? You know what will happen to mine? I have no doubt that you slept with him, but are you one hundred percent certain?”

“yes Niall I am, I haven’t slept with anybody else before or after him. Harvey was the last person I slept with before Louis and that was a year ago. You don’t have to believe me, but I’m no whore Niall and you know that, if I wasn’t sure on who the other parent was then I wouldn’t be going as far as trying to figure out how to tell him. I am four weeks pregnant and that was when me and Louis hooked up, no lie. You can ask Harry when his damn stupid party was because I don’t just sleep around Niall. This isn’t about your reputation, yours is fine, and I swear to god if you’re the one who leaks this to the press I will...I swear.” Liam huffed, he was borderline crying again because he felt like his whole body was going in a complete and utterly dazed swirl.

“Liam relax, woah. I know you don’t sleep around, you’re not like that I know. I just wanted to double check because who knew if you might of been with somebody else beforehand. I’m not going to tell anybody this is your business not mine. A secret is a secret, it’s not designed to be exposed, we both know this Liam.” Niall hushed, he was holding Liam’s jaw in his hands as he spoke, willing Liam not to cry. “Talk to Louis and talk to his management, but we both know they’re going to want a paternity test when it’s born. Just relax. Everything happens for a reason remember?” Niall assured, picking Liam’s phone up lightly into his hands.

Liam closed his eyes and focused on his heavy breathing, his body drooped and wobbling sadly as Niall hummed and played around on Liam’s phone. Sometimes Niall could be more than just a client to Liam, he was that little bit of love he had left in his life. Honestly.

“When are you free next Liam?” Niall asked, it was a common thing for Niall to text for Liam, because the brunette’s punctuation and spelling was appalling. Liam thought for a moment and figured that he basically had nothing on for the remainder of the week and the week after. He already knew Niall was going to organized a day with Louis.

“okay, how does this text sound? ‘ _Hi there Louis, It’s Liam Payne just texting to see if you’re free at some point over the next two weeks? regards Liam.’_ Niall read out loud, it was a good and professional text, better than the _‘Louis, we need to talk ASAP!!!’_ text Liam was planning on sending earlier.

“yeah that’s good, just send it to him before I change my mind yeah?” Liam sighed, huffing out a long breath as he grabbed his little blue booklet off the bedside table and flipped across to the back page, where the sonogram was located. “Look Niall, do you see that? It makes it all that more real when you see things like this.” Liam sniffled, he was crying again but he honestly couldn’t care less anymore.

Louis texted back with **‘yes why ???’** fifteen minutes later when Niall and Liam are going through the unfilled pages in his booklet. Liam let out a frustrated huff because he knew if it wasn’t something that entertained Louis, he wasn’t going to come.

_‘how does Tuesday next week sound? ten thirty at the cafe in broker street. This isn’t fun and games now Louis, I have something quite serious to discuss. Liam’_

**‘fine, I’ll come but only because I am curious about how ‘serious’ this might be? I’ll set a reminder on my phone. Bye Bye !!!’**

\----

Tuesday seemed to come quicker than Liam wanted it too. He was shaking like a leaf when he piled into his car and started the short drive to the cafe he had been sent too. Niall had rang up and booked a table out of the eyes of prying paparazzi and fans. He was taken in through the side door when he arrived and noticed Louis was already there, scrolling through his phone and sipping on a cup of coffee.

Liam had always admired Louis, and right now he wished he wasn’t because he knew there was no way in hell he was going to be getting rid of this unexpected child, but admiring Louis was making him want this baby even more because he could already imagine the childs looks. He’d be UK’s most adorable child, there was no lying about that.

He inhaled sharply and pulled his button up shirt down and dusted his pants off as he walked into the cafe, catching Louis’ attention when he flopped down into the chair opposite him. His palms were already sweating and his head was spinning because this was going to be a train wreck and he would love to just get up and leave right then are there.

“hey Liam, so what was SO important that you had to drag me from potential songwriting at this fine hour of the morning?” Louis asked, he was already being a sassy dick and Liam hadn’t even opened his mouth yet. Liam’s brain was screaming ‘JUST LEAVE NOW!’ But he couldn’t he was in too deep already.

“Louis, uh. You know that party-”

“Liam if you’re coming here to get laid you could’ve just texted me, but to be honest with you that’s not all that important.”

“No Louis that’s not it, you see-”

“Liam, honest mate we both know that’s exactly why you’re here. Tonight at nine? Mine or yours?” Louis grinned, a cheeky smile on his face.

“No Louis, please listen for one sec-”

“Liam mate pleas-”

“stop cutting me off for a second please so I can tell you why I’m really here for christ sake.” Liam yelled, his palm slapping the table. “I’m not here to get laid, I’m not here to make plans with you. I’m here to tell you I’m pregnant, a month to be exact and before you ask me why you would care. I think you should because it’s yours.” Liam breathed out quickly, his mouth moving quicker than his thoughts alone.

“woah woah Liam, slow down. What?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“and?”

“it’s yours”

“no fucking way. Look you don’t need to drain money from me because you have plenty of it, honestly congratulations man but don’t make this about me or involve me.” Louis huffed, he was gathering up his things already and Liam could feel himself on the brink of crying again.

“Louis you aren’t listening, I haven’t been in an intimate relationship for a year now. I don’t sleep around, I don’t just go with anybody I want too. If you want a paternity test when this baby is born then sure. But please, I’m not a liar. This is going to kill my reputation before it kills yours. This is only going to get into the media if you want it too. I am not here for your money, I have plenty of that. I’m here because I thought you might actually wanna be part of it’s life.” Liam sniffled, fishing the sonogram out of his pocket. “Here, this was from last week. Keep it, throw it away. I don’t care.” Liam sighed, dropping his head against the table.

“Uh, yeah thanks. If you swear it’s mine. Then we’ll have to talk to my management. I don’t know how to react but um. This is a big deal wow. Okay um. Yeah, I’m a fucking idiot. I’m really am quite sorry, I’m usually so careful and this wasn’t supposed to happen, I’m in the prime of my career.”

“so am I.” Liam mumbled, wiping his eyes on his sleeves, “all I want is you to say you’ll consider being part of it’s life. Either way if the paternity test comes back positive, you will still have to pay some costs if you decide not to have any custody of it, and I totally understand that.”

“Okay, how are you so calm about this? This is a big fucking deal, this is another human we’re talking about here Liam. It’s actually real right? You aren’t pulling my chain?”

“I’m calm because I found out Monday last week, I’ve had time to let it sink in.” Liam whispered. He’d come prepared, pulling the certificate note and blue booklet from his jumper pocket. Louis had since sat back down in his chair, curling his arms into lap. Eye’s averting down to the two items.

Liam and Louis sat in silence for a while as the older male flipped through the pages of the blue booklet and read the document over and over a few times. Liam was only alerted when he heard a loud bang, and noticed Louis was smacking his head against the table.

“what are you doing Louis? That’s going to hurt!” Liam squealed, startled into standing up from his chair and moving around to lift Louis’ head up from the table. “don’t do that. It’s generally not worth it okay? I’m not going to release this to the media, I’m not going to tell the public until the very last moment. I’m going to drag this out as far as I can, I have commitments to. Don’t worry. I’m not like most people, I’m different. I keep things to myself because my personal life shouldn’t have to be exposed to everybody else. When the time comes, we can come up with a story, a plan and see where it takes us, this is a baby. It’s going to be a living and moving thing one day and I hope you realize that eventually people are going to figure out that it’s yours as well, unless you don’t want to be apart of it’s life that is.” Liam explained, he was crouching down beside Louis now. The shorter brunette was rubbing his face and shaking his head.

“Let me figure this out Liam, let me sleep on it and contact management. This is a big deal, and I do want to be a father. How old are you again?”

“Twenty three.” Liam replied, as he picked up the little blue booklet again and placed it in his pocket. He was glad it was just the two of them alone together, with all the doors closed because well… It sounded like a murder not five minutes earlier.

“Okay, okay…. You’re not underage thank god, I had this awful feeling that you were going to be like sixteen and knocked up...and yeah, okay.” Louis rambled, hand on his heart as he spoke. He was sweating.

“I work in the music industry Louis, I couldn’t possibly be sixteen.” Liam chuckled, patting him on the back lightly. “I get it though, I had be thinking about all the disadvantages. But there is some perks of being pregnant with a popstar, google said so.”

“You googled advantages of being pregnant with a popstar?” Louis asked, he was on the brink of laughing. But Liam wasn’t going to lie, it was pretty ridiculous.

“I may have. Don’t judge.”

“I’m not going to judge, I’m just going to laugh, that’s funny.”

“Louis, I’m really not that funny.”

“Oh but Liam, you really are.”

_____________  
The next time Liam spoke to Louis is when he got a text asking if he could play the piano for him at the TCA’s, he didn’t see a problem with it as he was already going to be playing it for Niall. So he agreed and had Louis send him the melody and chords. It was quite simple to play actually, so he picked it up in two days.

Two days out of the TCA’s he woke up with cramps that knocked the air out of him, he had to lay on his back and stare at the ceiling whilst focusing on his breathing to get his mind off the pain. Liam had to ring Dr Vixen on advice because google had told him to ‘FREAK OUT’ and he was.

Dr Vixen reassured that cramps were common in male pregnancy, and that the pain would subside in a few, and he was right but then his morning sickness kicked in and he had that quite bad too. Spent an hour stuck in the bathroom. The preventative pills he was on didn’t seem to be working all that well and he had it quite bad.

The day of the TCA’s Liam was sweating quite horrifically, it was pooling in his pits and down the back of his shirt and it was generally annoying him because he knew he was going to have to change his clothes between each act.

Liam had to do rehearsals like this, waving a pamphlet sheet in front of his face as he waited by the piano. This was really quite awful. He also felt ill and slimy, he needed a shower as soon as possible. His fringe was stuck to his forehead, he had abandoned his shoes and was just sitting in his socks.

"Jesus Li, you right there?" Niall asked as he came toddling into the room, he had a ice pack that he lightly held against Liam's forehead for him. "It's the best they've got. Oh, I also bumped into Louis. He said he wanted to chat before the show started tonight." Niall hummed, Liam leaning into the cold touch, eyes falling closed and lips ajar.

"It's so hot Niall, I'm burning." He complained. Liam felt like crawling into a freezer and living in there until the heat wasn’t radiating off his body anymore. He curled his fingers slightly into the front of Niall’s shirt and leaned his head against his chest lightly. Eyes still firmly closed.

The ice pack was helping until the cramps came back and Liam spent fifteen minutes locked in the disabled bathroom vomiting and crying, it was stupid really. But it was like he had already lost complete control of his emotions. He eventually came out, throat sore, eyes red, hair tousled and stuck all over the place, but thankfully the appalling heat in his body had dulled down, it was bearable now.

They got through rehearsals okay. Liam just chugging on a huge bottle of water the whole time and Niall generally makes sure he is okay. The downfall to this all is that Louis wants Liam to play the piano centre stage throughout his performance. Whereas with Niall’s he was off to the side, out of sight.

When the TCA’s was underway and Liam was going over the cords in his head, because that was keeping his mind off how disgusting he felt. He wanted to go home and crawl into his bed, and hopefully sleep forever. Niall was first up to perform and Liam got through it okay, used his performance as a distraction. Afterwards he had a forty five minute wait before Louis was scheduled to go out on stage.

Liam sat backstage, hands resting in his jumper pocket as he leaned against the blue wall behind himself, eyes fluttered closed and lips ajar. He was beyond tired, having already had a restless sleep the night before as well as the horrible feeling he had in his stomach all this time. He could curl up and sleep right there and then.

He felt the presence of a person, so he peeled his eyes open and glanced up, his lips ajar. It was Louis, his hair had been quiffed up and styled. Liam was a bit more use to seeing it disheveled and fluffy like. Louis was wearing a nice classy outfit, skinny jeans, vans and a blue shirt under a denim jacket.

"Hey Liam, you look awful. Feeling okay?" Louis asked, slipping down into the seat beside the brunette easily.

"To be honest, I feel like utter shit." Liam admitted "sleep deprived and just downright awful." He sighed, he could see the sympathy on Louis' face.

"I was going to talk to you before the show tonight, but you disappeared. But basically I spoke to my mum about this situation and she has given me some pointers and tips. I don't know, they might help. I could email what was said to you." Louis replied the brunette was leaning across the chair, staring concernedly at Liam as he spoke.

"Whatever happens, I believe you. You don't lie about these things do you? It's a big deal. But I'm going through a change at the moment. Going clean, no alcohol, no smokes. I just thought I'd tell you." He continued, giving Liam's thigh a slight rub.

"Text me whenever you like. I'll quit being a coward and I'm organizing a meeting with my management, but whatever the outcome just know that this is all okay right? We're alright?"

"Yeah Louis, we're alright. Thanks for telling me all that, but you're going to be late if you wait around here any longer." Liam replied, he wasn’t trying to be nasty. Just helpful really.

The rest of the night was a haze for Liam, all he remember was falling into the hotel bed and falling asleep, the tension in his body easing and relaxing into the soft and crispiness on the bed sheets. It was terrific.

____  
Liam was borderline three months when Louis got in contact with him next. Liam had been doing the right thing and sending him updates, sonograms and various different things.

But when Liam read the text he was quite concerned **'bad news Liam, got time to come down and see my management team real quick ?? Lou. '**

_'Yeah, address?? I'll come now.'_

**'Sweet, thanks Liam. It's 44 Smithfield street, Surrey'**

_'thxs'_

Liam took the short trip down to Louis' said destination. He had to park his car in the street and walk a good kilometer down the busy footpath until he found the brown bricked building.

He let himself in and gave the lady at the front desk his information before he was given a clearing to take the elevator to floor number six. For some awful reason, he had a gut instinct that this wasn’t going to be all that good.

When he reached the floor, he saw Louis sitting on a black sofa, head down and phone in his hands. He didn't even look up when Liam greeted him.

He was taken in by himself, being introduced to four men and two women, all middle aged and quite formally attired. Liam wasn’t use to being managed. He was his own manager.

It only got worse after that, it was like he was being stripped of all his own personal information. They asked for every last detail, his parents names. Last home address and number, age, registration numbers. I.D number. Even requested to see his driver's license. They then went on to get Liam's side of the story. How he met Louis, what date it was, the time. All things Liam couldn't remember due to his intoxication.

They left him sitting by himself awkwardly in the board room for fifteen minutes, before they bought Louis in and straightened out their paperwork.

"Our decision has come down to this, considering neither one of you boys know each other. Nor did the stories you both gave matchup. We have decided for the safety of Louis' career that he continues to do what he does, but can no longer speak or stay in touch with you Liam. We will speak to you again when you have a paternity test. Thanks for giving us your time." They stated, before they sent him away with a heavy heart and tears welling up in his eyes.

He fell into his bed that afternoon, crying all over again as he facetimed Niall what happened. He was so screwed now, Louis was being wiped from his life for good and now he was going to live this life as a single parent.

\-----

Liam didn’t do much for a while nor did he contact anybody. Until he reached thirteen weeks and had another appointment. But this was also the month he had decided to just come clean to the world of intrigued and curious people. Some people had already started asking questions, articles had been published, heck even Niall had been accused.

The appointment went through just as easily as the previous ones, a sonogram was taken. He was weighed, diet was changed ever so slightly and then they sat down and went through his booklet. He always left with another section filled out and a heavy weight on his shoulders.

Liam sat in his car and opened his instagram app, he never really understood why people were interested in him, he wasn’t all that great. He didn’t sing, dance or have a dazzling smile that captivated anybody, he really only wrote music and created rules. He wasn’t anything special.

He took a picture of the sonogram with the caption _‘yeah, meet baby Payno guys! its now official. 13 weeks!’_

He then followed it up by tweeting _‘no @NiallOfficial isn’t the baby’s daddy, that’d be like dating my bro. Weird!!!!!’_

Liam received a text from Louis ten minutes later **‘r u goin’ 2 tell everybody its mine ???’**

_‘no.’_

**‘thanks Liam, it’s appreciated.’**

_‘all good’_

**‘interested in attending a concert ? bring Niall’**

_‘what kind?’_

**‘mine, I have tixs the 15th, be there ok ? my friend Harry u no him ? he’ll give u the tixs at the door. ok ?’**

_‘I guess.’_

**‘awesome !’**

Liam contacted Niall the next morning, letting him know that they would be attending a Louis Tomlinson concert and that was weird in itself. It was going to be awkward and people were going to notice him. He couldn’t go places with Niall without being seen.

He purchased some nice maternity dress jeans online, so he didn’t show up to the concert in his baggy tracksuit pants, they fit snug the stretchy elastic a loose but settle feeling on his hips. He had already noticed the formed and small mounted out bump that pressed out of his button up dress shirt, it wasn’t something he could really hide anymore. He finished off his outfit with his boots and a pair of sunglasses.

Liam took the subway train to Niall’s flat, people stared at him the whole trip as he did promo work on his laptop, headphones stuffed into his ears as he soaked up the melody of the music, it was sometimes the reason for his muse and writing methods.

Niall had a car waiting for them both at the front of his small townhouse flat. A grin etched across his face as he slipped into the car beside Liam and gave the brunette lads belly a small pat. He was awfully flattering, but also somewhat weird.

“this is the baby’s first concert, how special.” Niall cooed, he was so fond of Liam’s small bump already, had dibs on being the baby’s godfather. Liam found it sweet.

“Niall, I doubt you can consider this their first concert, they can’t even hear anything yet.” Liam chuckled, it was true. Baby’s couldn’t hear until at least eighteen weeks.

“and? That doesn’t matter. This is their first concert. Deal with it Payno.” Niall shushed, as he did his seatbelt up. “wait, we’re getting these tickets off that Harry guy right? do you reckon I will be able to score a date with him?”

“I have no doubts that you will, Nialler. Anything is possible with you.”

\--^--  
Upon arriving Liam and Niall took selfies in the back of the car and posted them on their social media sites. Liam liked times like this, being as normal as they possibly could. Enjoying themselves and not having to worry about album releases or potential tour arrangements. Liam was eased away from that in the most simplest of ways.

They went in through the back door where they met up with Harry. Liam left to go find their seats whilst Niall stayed back to convince Harry to go on a proper date with him. Their seats were located close to the side, Liam had taken the seat up against the railing, it was a bit more safer stuffed away in the furthest corner.

Liam took a pitstop on his way to buy water. Fans were noticing him of course, taking pictures and sharing them on social media sites. He was starting to question whether or not if this was a good idea. But by the time he had sat back down in his seat the opening act had started and Niall had returned, sporting a huge grin as he waved his phone around happily.

“I’m going out for dinner with him next weekend.” Niall yelled over the intense music, his cheeks a crimson red from the heat in the arena. The fans around them already flabbergastingly taking pictures and trying to gather their attention.

Liam hadn’t been to a concert for years, he was probably eighteen when he last went. He barely even knew who Niall was then. But here he was, sitting in the V.I.P section of a Louis Tomlinson concert. It was downright unreal. Liam was shocked that his life had ended up this eventful.

Louis came on stage an hour later, he had dancing, full on hip hop with crotch grabbing and hip thrusting. Then he would go to singing a ballad with a video playing in the background. Liam was enjoying himself a lot. He was even standing up despite the feeling in the pit of his stomach, one hand holding his selfie stick and the other perched on his bump. Louis came bounding down the catwalk stage not long after. He noticed Liam instantly and hopped off the stage to take a selfie with him and Niall. Before bouncing back off again.

Just as the concert was coming to an end. Liam was sitting down because his legs hurt and he was tired. Louis had just come back on stage for his encore, singing a song off his new album. Just as Louis started singing, Liam had dropped his head against Niall’s shoulders tiredly. It wasn't until Liam heard the words that he knew what Louis was singing about.

It was a song, called small bump. Which was about a baby and he goes on to describe the looks and Liam feels his emotions swirling in the pit of his stomach. The waterworks started as soon as Louis sang the last verse ' _Cause you were just a small bump unborn for four months then torn from life. Maybe you were needed up there but we're still unaware as why.’_ Liam was sobbing into Niall’s sleeve. The blonde cooing and offering Liam some water.

“Niall, why would his sing that? Why would he say that?” he hiccuped, he was holding his bump like his life depended on it. He was so upset.

“Liam, it's just a song. It doesn't mean anything. Words are just words okay?” Niall assured. Liam nodded, but still cried the whole way through the last two songs. They decided to sit and wait until most of the fans had left the stadium and it gave Liam enough time to compose himself.

When there was only five people left in the stadium, the two of them stood up and started towards the exit. Just as Louis came barrelling out from backstage. He was grinning from ear to ear, but it became a frown once he saw the red, hooded look on Liam’s face.

“are you okay Liam? Something happened?” Louis asked concerningly. Niall rubbed Liam's shoulder gently and pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth

“that song set him off, what’s it called? Small Bump?.” Niall answered for him “the last verse.” he whispered and he watched the way Louis’ face fell.

“oh Liam, I'm sorry. I didn't realize, it totally flew over my head. It's just words it doesn't mean anything.” Louis assured, he glanced over their shoulders before he grabbed Liam’s hand “our baby is going to be perfectly fine.”

“your management Louis, you can't call it that” Liam sniffled, shaking his head. “they'll send you away. You heard what they said.”

“fuck them Liam, they know nothing. I'm not resigning with them so they're punishing the fuck out of me. I'm trying to change who I am because I want to be a different person. I don't wanna be that typical bad boy anymore. I'm not that, that's an image thing. Just know. My management can't fucking stop me from doing a thing.” Louis replied, gripping both Liam’s hands tightly.

Liam nodded and leaned into Louis for a hug, he never realized that Louis was shorter until now. Louis cooed fondly and wrapped his arms around Liam’s waist. The curve of his bump pressing against Louis’ belly. “thank you. I got worried for a while there.”

“don't worry Liam, I believe you. I really do believe you. I want to be apart of the baby’s life. Does that make you feel better?” he asked, Liam nodded against Louis’ shoulder and started crying all over again. “don't cry Liam, it's okay.”

“they're good tears, fucking hormones have got me messed up. I cry over just about everything.”

“he does.” Niall agreed “but it's okay Li. It's not necessarily a bad thing to cry.” Niall continued. Louis cooed, rubbing his hand in a swift motion up and down Liam’s back.

They remain like this until Liam stops crying and is borderline asleep on Louis’ shoulder. As much as Louis would like to feel the swell of Liam’s bump on his skin all day, he knew they all needed their beauty sleep, so he handed Liam back off to Niall and bidded them both goodbye.

Liam fell asleep in the car, head resting against Niall’s shoulder contently. His oversized sleeves of the jumper he put on draping from the ends of his fingers. Niall took a picture, because it was downright adorable.

\---_---

Louis messaged Liam four days later with **‘rainy days are good movie days ! Whats your address ill pop over. What movies do you like ?’**

_‘it's apartment complex nineteen, I'm on the top floor. It's London central. Nothing sad, hormones bad today.’_

**‘I'll bring some comedies then. Always up for a good laugh. See ya soon Liam !’**

Louis arrived an hour later with a few bags of snacks and food, as well as a stack of movies and a throw blanket. Liam wasn't all that presentable. Wearing his track pants low and a oversized t-shirt that had slipped off his shoulders and revealed his prominent collarbones and chest bones.

Louis looked awfully fluffy in an adidas jumper, a beanie and loose gym pants and vans. He wandered into Liam’s apartment like he knew the routes of the place easily. Liam closed the door behind Louis contently and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

Louis was already unpacking his items onto Liam’s kitchen bench. Removing his jumper and beanie in the process, followed by his shoes. He then pulled Liam into a hug, arms curling around the taller lads waist happily.

“thanks for letting me come over Liam. Now shall we set a movie up in your room?” Louis asked and Liam instantly blushed. Cheeks tinted crimson and bright. His room was so messy he could barely see the floor. “I don't care if it's messy, it's just a place you go to sleep in right?”

Liam ended up leading Louis into his room reluctantly not long after. He had his curtains wide open, revealing the amazing view of London outside his window. It was picture perfect. The whole reason why he bought this place. He loved it more than he should.

“oh my god, look at that view Liam. Well isn't this a beautiful place. How many rooms is it?”

“just the one.”

“where's the baby gonna go then?” Louis asked eyebrows furrowed together, a slight pout on his lips.

“I'm going to buy a place and rent this out. I'm not prepared to sell this because it's beautiful. But I need some place bigger, with a backyard and a big kitchen. This isn’t baby material, it's more or less a lad pad.” Liam replied, shrugging his shoulders as he sat down on his bed and fluffed his pillows.

The t.v was mounted on the wall, so it was easy for Louis to put the disk in for the first Hangover movie. It took Liam all of an hour to be curled up on Louis’ lap, if anybody was willing enough to play with his hair. He'd lay there all day.

He fell asleep not long after, Louis’ fingers massaging his hair as he stuffed popcorn in his mouth and laughed quite loudly at the funny bits. But it didn't stop Liam from falling asleep. He was so content.

Louis didn't realize Liam was sleeping until he shifted his weight to grab his bottle of water and noticed that Liam was fast asleep, lips ajar, his hair flopping down over his eyes and his arms being used to prop his head up. Louis shifted Liam so his head was resting on the pillows and pulled a plush blanket up over his belly. He decided to stay until he woke up.

Niall came around at eleven o’clock to cook Liam lunch and was startled when he noticed Louis, the brunette was in the middle of pausing his movie and getting out of bed when he made eye contact with the blonde.

“hey Nialler” Louis grinned.

“hey, I didn't know you were here.” Niall replied once the two had shuffled out of Liam’s room and closed the door so it was only slightly ajar.

“I thought I'd drop over and watch some movies with Liam, but he fell asleep halfway through the first movie.”

“pregnancy knocks the energy out of ya’ he's only gonna get worse.” Niall said as he unpacked his bags and switched Liam’s stove on. “I come over and cook him lunch every day, it's been our thing since we first started working together. Don't know how it started.” Niall continued, washing his hands and wiping them on a tea towel.

“I can't cook for shit. Only know how to make a good cuppa really.” Louis replied, shuffling from foot to foot and leaning against the counter top. “but I have something to ask you. I'm not really asking for permission, I just wanna see if he will.”

“fire away, I know enough about Liam to write a book about him.” Niall hummed.

“do you think he'd go out with me. Like on a date and if you think he will, what type of places does he like to go too?” Louis asked, climbing onto the bar stool opposite Niall.

Niall stopped rinsing the vegetables and glanced up at Louis. He shifted so he was paying his undermined attention to the brunette. “to be honest, I think he would. Liam's the type of guy who always gives something a go and I feel like he'd wanna give something like this a go because, one; he's pregnant and two; I think he generally has faith in you and when the time comes and everybody knows he's having your baby I think he'd much rather prefer to say ‘yeah I'm dating him’ instead of ‘it was a one night stand’ do you get what I mean? That's what Liam is like.” Niall stated.

It made sense to Louis, he understood it. Liam was different to most other people Louis knew. He was drawn in and captivated by his whole complexity and personality. He was absolutely gorgeous and Louis didn't know why he hadn’t realized this sooner. Liam was important to him already, carrying his child and all. But he really would love to have Liam just that little bit more important.

“Liam hasn't been in a proper relationship since his ex Harvey. They never actually ended on good terms and Liam struggled for quite awhile. I don't think Liam’s family and friends want to be left to pickup the pieces again. So I say, if you wanna let him down. Give me some warning first because Liam is sensitive when it comes to that.” Niall sighed.

“he likes ice skating but please, for the love of god don't take him there in his current state. Take him to a football match or something. He likes those.” Niall added, shifting back to washing the handful of vegetables.

_-_-_-_-_

Louis took Liam to a football match two weeks later and Liam was borderline five months pregnant. It was rounded out and a proper mound now. He was even starting to get a waddle to his walking. It was utterly adorable, as much as Liam disagreed.

As much as Louis would have preferred to have booked the seats down the front, boxed in with all the other passionate supporters, he knew what was best for Liam and got them cozy corporate box. It was out of the bitter frost outside and Liam was happy with the unlimited snacks that came and went.

The younger brunette was wearing a huge woolen jumper that he'd bought not that long ago for the weather and it was snug around his widening waist. He swore it got bigger each day and he could feel movement in his lower abdomen whenever he was laying down flat on his back. He had slippers on because his feet were beginning to hurt in the shoes he usually wore and he wasn’t comfortable in them anymore. The look was finished with his tracksuit pants, a scarf, gloves and a beanie. He was slightly hunched forward until he felt the warmth kicking in.

Louis thought Liam looked downright adorable and complimented him for it when he picked him up. He hadn't done the whole dating thing for a while so he was a bit rusty. He knew how to flirt, but there was a difference between flirting and bring flattering.

Louis tried to stay quiet throughout the match, more or less just fist pumping whenever they scored. He had always been one of those loud supporters. But Liam looked so peaceful and content Louis just didn't want to start yelling randomly.

At halftime Liam spoke up, playing with his gloves as he turned his body more towards Louis. He gave him a sincere smile “I find this all quite flattering but I couldn't date you Louis. Your management is horrific and I don't wanna mess with them.”

“Liam, we've been over this before. I told them I was going to be giving a proper relationship a go. I wasn't going to be their man whore anymore. I don’t know why but you've made me wake up to myself and realize who I really am. I'm not Louis Tomlinson who is an arsehole and does nothing for others, I'm Louis Tomlinson who donates to charities and loves everybody. They just chose not to publish that about me. I'm not who you think I am. I'm completely different. They're the reason why I can't date others, because I can't be myself.” Louis replied with a loud sigh. Liam was still staring at Louis, he shuffled forward and offered Louis his hands, which the older brunette took gratefully.

“if you have really changed, if you have honestly turned a new leaf and want to give this a go. Then I'm more than willing too. Slow though right? No rushing.” Liam suggested. Louis grinned and nodded quickly. He was perfectly fine with that.

\-----  
Louis took Liam on two more dates after that before they made it official. He took Liam to the movies and out for dinner and then they had a lazy day in baking and creating havoc in Liam’s kitchen.

Liam was pretty fond of Louis, even though he hadn't said it verbally. Niall had noticed it and so had the fans. Because even though the two of them weren't official yet. It was pretty obvious something was going on between them both.

Liam was currently browsing the web for a potential new place to start his family, the sunshine gleaming in through his window. He was drinking a lot of tea lately, which wasn't something he was all that fond of. Tea was good before bed, but Liam was having at least five cups of it a day. Right now he was sipping on his fourth cup, bookmarking and saving homes he liked.

He was startled by the doorbell and shuffled onto his sore feet. He was five months now. With a very decent sized bump that he couldn’t hide anymore. He waddled along the floor in his ankle socks, long hoodie and tracksuit pants and unlocked the door. He was welcomed by Louis who was holding a bouquet of flowers and a huge white stuffed polar bear teddy.

“come in.” Liam grinned, holding the door open further and ushering the older lad inside. Louis came in gratefully and gave Liam a quick peck on the cheek. Liam was feeling awfully loved nowadays.

Once he had put the flowers into a vase he sat down with his fifth cup of tea. He had his spare hand curved under his bump and his small fringe had flopped down by his eyes. Louis was sitting opposite him, scrolling through his phone as he munched on a few biscuits.

“so, can I ask you something?” Louis asked, you could see the nervous glint in his eyes and by the way he was smiling. You could definitely tell he was uneasy. Which made Liam just as nervous as Louis was. He placed his mug down, letting Louis fold his hands into Liam’s gently. “will you be my boyfriend now? Please.” Louis asked, with so much earnesty and want. The glint in his eyes had changed to something more. It was hope and warmth.

“yes. I would love too.” Liam replied, he had this beaming grin on his face that was already hurting the edge of his cheeks and the corners of his mouth. Louis was practically mirroring him, leaning over to pull Liam into a chaste kiss. It was sweet, so much more different to what they did the night of the party. This was something so much more different.

Liam was feeling awfully pleased, gripping Louis’ hands tighter and diving in for a more proper kiss, he closed his eyes and dislodged his left hand to press it against the edge of Louis’ jaw. He could feel Louis smiling throughout the kiss. He was overly fond.

They spent the next few minutes just enjoying each other's company. Louis had since slipped onto the couch with Liam and was gently running his open palm along Liam’s bump. Liam hadn’t felt this happy with himself since he first became so invested with Niall. He rested his head on Louis’ chest as the older lad traced patterns into Liam’s belly whilst Liam drew patterns into Louis’ skin.

Niall found them both like this an hour later, exact they had their foreheads resting against one another's and Liam had fallen asleep, Louis was just admiring the beauty that he was. The loud squeal of delight that came from Niall startled Louis to turn his attention towards the booming sound, a smile gleaming on his face. “about bloody time you two. This is amazing.” Niall grinned and draped his arms over Louis once he had dashed across the living room carpet.

_____  
The rest of the world found out not a week later when Louis was asked in an interview about his relationship status, and he replied with such a huge smile it was impossible to hide it. He posted a picture of Liam on the couch asleep on his twitter once he was back in the car with the caption _‘cutie patootie’_. It made everything a bit more official after that.

But once this happened the most frequently asked question was still waiting to be answered. Neither one of the boys had made an effort to give anybody a reply, so everybody was still constantly asking, and Liam was not about to give in now.

Liam was going to his five month scan and he took Louis along with him, their hands locked together and heads down when the paps stuck their cameras in their faces and continuously gave them both a shove until Louis and Liam had safely gotten inside. He checked in, went over the usual information and then flopped down into a seat beside Louis, who was flipping through a prenatal booklet that was originally on the small counter top.

Liam was the second one to be called in and he instantly pulled his large sweater up, laying down on the small bed. Dr Vixen gave him a pleasant smile as he placed the cold gel onto his round belly and grabbed the wand. Louis had latched onto Liam’s hand in the process of finding their unborn child. Louis was gobsmacked at the realness of it all. The fact that Liam really was pregnant with his baby was unreal.

Liam was crying again, he did this every time he came in for his appointments, the waterworks always started when he saw and heard his baby on the monitors. He was given the all clear again, their baby was happy and healthy, growing perfectly in the cozy home of Liam’s womb. Louis leaned up and pecked Liam’s forehead whilst he gathered up all the new information they needed as well as the sonograms. Leaving Liam to wipe off the gel on his belly and sit up into a comfortable position again.

Louis drove Liam home, riddling off about how excited he was and Liam had this swelling feeling in the pit of his stomach, he feel warm and fuzzy. He just loved the thought of the baby having its other father in it’s life, being invested and downright excited about the whole thing. He could feel the pleased smile etched on his lips when Louis pulled up at Liam’s apartment complex. “come up for a cuppa please.” Liam said before he climbed out of Louis’ posh Audi r8.

Louis obeyed and pulled his car into park, turning the engine off and got out. He made sure he locked it before he followed Liam up to the elevator and to his floor complex. Greeting a few of Liam’s neighbours on the way up happily. He was in such a good mood from the vibe of the day. Louis was going to be a father, he had a beautiful, dazzling and downright attractive boyfriend and his management had gotten off his back about his music and reputation. He was practically free.

Liam got changed first, into his warm ankle socks, one of Louis’ hoodies (that he’d left behind obviously) and his tracksuit pants. Before switching the kettle on and brewing two cups and giving Louis a handful of biscuits. He leaned across to peck Louis’ lips before sitting down at the dining table and opening one of his laptop tabs to view his emails.

A grin etched on his face not long after, his hands flying off the keyboard and onto the coffee table. “I got it! I got it Lou!” Liam explained, excitement oozing from Liam’s body in joyment. Louis had furrowed his brows in confusion but was still smiling nonetheless.

“what did you get?” Louis asked, he was borderline cooing. Liam was just downright adorable, his features, his everything, Louis had become to enjoy every little bit of Liam in the most amazing ways.

“You know that place in Surrey that I went with my mum to look at, like...two days ago? That I fell in love with? Well they approved my offer and settlement goes through in twenty five days. How amazing is that?” Liam buzzed, he was nearly bouncing with joy. Getting out of his chair and wrapping his arms around Louis’ shoulders “I got this beautiful place, with a garden and the ultimate place for our son or daughter to dig up worms and eat dirt in. I can get myself a dog and admire the beauty from my kitchen window. It has more than one room and it’s a proper house. No more lad pad.” Liam mumbled into Louis’ ear, pressing little kisses there each time he paused for a moment.

“When are you going to move in? This is wonderful Li, honestly. You live so much closer to me now, I will never leave.” Louis chuckled, pulling Liam down into his lap so they could link their hands together in an awkward way. They made it work though of course.

“after our baby is born, but I want to design the nursery and start moving furniture in and have it all set up before our bubba is born. I need guest beds and all the things the baby needs. I wanna get all that organised beforehand.”

“Let me help you, we could get a theme for the nursery. Unisex as we aren't finding out the gender right?” Louis questioned and Liam nodded in agreement. He wanted to keep the gender a surprise.

“if you really wanna help. Then I'd quite like that.” Liam grinned. He flopped his forehead against Louis’ shoulder in pure happiness. He got the place of his dreams.

____  
They spent the next few weeks planning things for Liam’s new place, and Louis spent more time crashing at Liam’s than he'd ever done before. Liam was absolutely gleaming, pregnancy suited him and every time Liam went out places he was always complimented about how wonderful he looked.

He was currently facetiming his Mum whilst he texted Louis, mostly just love heart and heart eye emojis. Louis was buying baby things (he had been for ages really. He was downright obsessed) and was sending Liam pictures of all the things he was buying.

“Sorry Mum, Louis is out of control, he's completely lost it.” Liam laughed, he was awfully distracted by his phone and he could tell his Mum wasn't that pleased. But he couldn't help it. “sorry, sorry. I'm putting it down.”

Liam only managed to put his phone down for ten minutes before it was buzzing on his nightstand and his mum decided to go back to work. She had been quite emotional when she first found out her baby boy was having a baby. Neither of Liam’s sisters had gotten that far yet.

Niall dropped by with Harry for lunch, Liam watching trashy soap opera on the television whilst he wrote down potential song lyrics. He'd been in the mood lately, missing the studio and the overwhelming feeling of his words becoming something.

Louis came over whilst Liam was eating, flopping down on the couch beside the lad and pressing a kiss to his forehead before he started rambling loudly, flipping through a booklet. Liam nor the others could even keep up with Louis, but the buzz from his radiating body was making them all feel good.

“slow down.” Liam chuckled, resting his hand on the back of Louis’ elbow lightly “I don't even know a word you're saying. Slowly please, mushy brain.” Liam smiled. Louis glanced up from his booklet and smiled contently.

“Mum gave me this, it's about what's important for a baby and what isn't and I was reading it on the way here and it says that the tea you drink has forty milligrams of caffeine per cup and you drink four to five a day which is two hundred milligrams, and that much caffeine means you're more prone to miscarriage. So it's suggested that we cut you back. I'm not comfortable with you drinking that much tea anymore.” Louis whispered, he had softened when he saw the look on Liam’s face. The fear and guilt.

“sorry Lou.” Liam whispered into the soft nape of Louis’ neck, both his hands pressed to his bump. It scared him, that his tea intake could be the cause of his own child’s death. “I won’t drink anymore”

“hey, no. It's okay, you didn't know. I bought green tea, it's herbal and healthy which is perfect, it only contains zero point four milligrams of caffeine per cup. So it's a lot safer.” Louis assured, playing with Liam’s hand gently. “hey, it's okay.”

Liam was emotionally overwhelmed, his brain was still trying to figure everything out. The room was silent, just plain white noise. Liam was borderline crying with his face buried into Louis’ neck.

“I'm sorry Liam. I startled you didn't I?” Louis asked, pulling the younger lads fringe out of his eyes and placing a soft kiss onto his nose. He waited for Liam to calm down whilst Harry brewed Liam a peppermint tea with a few biscuits.

\------

Liam was six months when he met Louis’ mum, a overly beautiful person who just wanted to spoil Liam rotten. She made sure he was fed the whole duration of his stay and gave him tips on many things. He really just enjoyed her company.

Louis was staying in Doncaster because he had Harry’s movie premiere in Manchester and wanted to be close to home. Of course he took Liam along with him, who was feeling quite self conscious, he kept tucking his jacket around his bowling ball belly. Louis scoffing him every time he did so and distracting Liam by introducing him to everybody he knew in the place.

Louis had a firm grip around Liam’s waist, Liam found it quite sweet actually. How cautious Louis was being. Liam had been waiting for the moment he felt that overwhelming boot in the belly. He hadn't happened yet, only the flutter movements and tumbles that came and went. But nothing to amazing.

Liam had sore legs by the time himself and Louis sat down in their chairs. A few fans had been given the opportunity to come and see the movie and Liam could see them out of the corner of his eye, they hadn't put their cameras down yet and Liam was guessing it was because of the way he had his face pressed into Louis’ neck. The older lad drawing patterns on his belly through his jacket and shirt. Louis pressed a kiss to Liam’s forehead and greeted Niall and Harry as they joined them both.

The movie was wonderful, Harry played the character so well. Liam was quite content throughout the whole thing, only had to use the bathroom twice during. Niall mocked him for it, but he didn't react, just rolled his eyes and flopped down into his chair. (That was basically in Louis’ lap.) He liked moments like this, when he just got to hang out with his friends and have a good time.

As he was coming out of the bathroom, he could see Louis had been dragged into an interview, a crease in the older lads eyebrows and his bottom lip jutted out, he pulled this face when he was trying to settle his anger. Liam hung back, just in case. But eventually Louis had Liam’s hand and was dragging him out of the place. He was moving so fast Liam was doing an awkward running waddle, a lot like a penguin.

Louis slammed the door shut and curled his arms tightly around Liam’s waist, blowing frustrated puffs of air onto Liam’s collarbone “fucking people, should go fuck themselves I swear to god, who thinks they have the right to speak to me like that? Nobody fucking does. Nor do they get to talk about you and the baby like trash, if I could've hit them, I would've. Liam I fucking swear.” Louis fumed, he body was heaving. Liam was actually quite concerned. He sighed and pressed his lips against Louis’ forehead gently. That small gesture seemed to settle Louis enough.

Liam was crashing at Louis’ that night, wearing a pair of baggy tracksuit pants and a oversized t-shirt, he was practically asleep in Louis’ lap whilst they watched reruns of breaking bad. Louis was playing with his hair, The other hand resting on Liam’s belly gently. Just as he closed his eyes and shifted to get a bit more comfortable he felt a huge kick right in the left side of his abdomen. He sat up abruptly, Louis shifting his hand instantly.

“did you feel that?” Liam asked, he was grinning as he dragged Louis’ hand back down onto the spot. The kicking came again straight after and Louis started giggling like a small child.

“that's amazing, wow.”

\----

Liam slept during the day a lot once he hit 30 weeks. His back ached so much during the day, that he didn't like getting out of bed. Louis and Niall practically lived at Liam’s now, If Louis wasn’t there Niall was. Liam disliked the constant concern, he'd much rather just sleep all day and not have to worry about Louis or Niall waking him up every ten or so minutes to make sure he wasn’t feeling sick.

Right now Niall had gotten Liam out of bed to help him wrap presents for his mum’s birthday. He had his back pressed against a soft cushion, and a beanie tucked over his ears. He yawned loudly and pressed his hands to the swell of his bump, trying to settle the fierce kicking. But ever since he started moving, he woke up their baby and he hadn't stopped since.

He hadn't seen Louis for nearly two weeks and he missed him quite a lot. Louis was Liam's favourite person to be around. So saying he missed him was an understatement.

“so have you thought of a name yet?” Niall asked, he was trying to keep Liam awake a bit longer than an hour. But then he also felt sorry for the poor lad.

“I have a few ideas yeah, but I wanna run them by Louis first. We don't know the gender so we need a name for both.” Liam replied, rubbing his eyes and taking a sip of his peppermint tea. He wasn’t overly fond, but he'd gotten use to it.

“that's good then.” Niall smiled “you miss Lou?” he questioned as he secured the tape on the wrapping paper and stuck them down beside Liam.

“I do miss him yeah, but he's gotta work and that's important.” Liam sighed, rubbing his belly and closing his eyes easily. Sinking into the feeling of the plush pillow and couch.

Niall sighed and stood up from where he was sitting, he gently helped Liam up the stairs and into bed. The brunette went to the toilet first and then curled up into the warm blankets and relaxed contently “you’re just always tired aren't you Li?” Niall said, he was quite concerned about how much Liam slept, it wasn’t exactly normal.

“it's exhausting to carry a baby Niall, plus. This bub likes to be awake all night, hence why I sleep all day.” Liam replied, he already had his eyes closed and his body was relaxed into the mattress easily. Niall let him doze off after that. Snapping a picture and sending it to Louis with the caption _‘sleeping again.’_

**‘sleeping beauties !!! Faves ! I'll be home soon. About bloody time !!!’**

_‘he misses u! But all he does is sleep all day’_

**‘I'll ask his doc when I get back ! It's probably normal.’**

_‘I worry about his kidneys, that's all.’_

**‘kidneys ?’**

_‘u dont no? Liam had life threatening kidney problems when he was a baby. He died and everything. He tells me everything is good now but I'm never one hundred percent sure with him.’_

**‘now u have me all worried niall ! Blah !’**

_‘sorry Lou, I'm sure I'm just overreacting. Liam's just stubborn is all.’_

**‘he's always stubborn. I'll figure it all out when I get home. Now stop worrying me. I'm working !!!’**

_‘love ya Louis ! You twat’_

**‘fuck off. xxx’**

\---

Louis managed to sneak home a few days earlier than predicted and he had Harry pick him up and sneak him down to Liam’s apartment. He let himself in and toed his shoes and jacket off, he tiptoed down the hallway and into Liam’s room.

Liam was sound asleep, drooling all over his pillow and his sleeping mask shielding his eyes. Louis closed the door carefully behind himself and placed his phone on the nightstand before he climbed into the huge plush bed and curled his arms around Liam’s rounded out waist. He tucked his chin on top of Liam’s head and closed his eyes.

He woke up all hot and sweaty and he realized it wasn't coming from him, Liam was having one of his mandatory hot flushes, it happened a lot nowadays (or so Louis had been told.) He sat up and threw the doona off. Slipping out of the bed, he turned the fan on and opened the window. Considering it was practically snowing outside. He grabbed a cold wet face wash from the bathroom and gently laid it over Liam’s forehead.

“no” Liam grunted, easily managing to push it off his forehead and sit up slightly. He undid the velcro on the back of his sleeping mask and pulled it off. Putting it on his nightstand. He furrowed his brows when he didn't see Niall’s blonde hair. His lips fell into an ‘O’ shape as he rolled onto his side and did an awkward sliding maneuver out of the bed. He instantly curled his arms around Louis’s waist and nuzzled into his hair. Smiling fondly as his eyes crinkles at the side. It made Louis weak at the knees.

“when did you get home?” Liam asked, completely ignoring the sweat stains on his sleep shirt and how his fringe was stuck to his forehead. Instead he just linked his fingers with Louis’ and pressed his face against the edge of Louis’ jaw and collarbone.

“today, about three hours ago actually. I was napping until you got hot. Look at your hair sweetheart.” Louis tutted, grabbing the face wash again. “you need a bath, what helps with these things Li?” Louis asked.

“you know what, I wouldn't mind these hot flushes so much if they would just burn some fat off my hips and thighs.” Liam huffed, jutting out his bottom lip in frustration. “I mean look at me Louis. I'm so bloody hot I could probably keep half the fucking country warm with just my body heat. Who needs heaters when you have Liam Payne ‘only ten pounds an hour, book now for your own personal Liam Payne heater. Only available during hot flushes.’ Liam added, mimicking one of the television commercials he'd seen.

Louis was trying not to laugh, as he curled Liam back into his arms and pressed the face wash against his forehead again. “it's only because you've got a bun in the oven. Gotta make sure you cook that proper.” Louis chuckled.

“I feel like just sitting in the Antarctic until my body isn't so hot anymore. This is painful now.” Liam sighed, his body melting into the cool touch of the wet face wash. “Screw the bun in the oven shit, I’m done.”

“you don’t mean that love, what happens when you take dough out of the oven to early? You have to put it back in and hope it cooks right. That's kinda how it works when being pregnant.” Louis stated, Liam pulled back from Louis’ chest to frown deeply.

“what the actual fuck are you talking about?” Liam questioned, a frown on his brows even though Louis could see the fondness in Liam’s eyes.

“right, does this place have a pool somewhere? All apartment complexes have a pool.” Louis said, he could feel the heat on his cheeks already.

××××××

At 34 weeks, Liam was practically back to normal, he had been to a photoshoot for a pregnancy magazine and waddled down the red carpet with Louis twice in a week. He didn’t have time to think about being tired anymore.

Niall was still staying with Liam. Who had completely moved into his new house, the nursery was ready and he knew his body was getting ready and preparing for the big day. He had a baby bag already packed and he'd worked out his birth plan. Now he just had to wait the last few weeks that remained.

Louis had rescheduled most of his promo so it was before Liam’s due date and his management knew Louis would be getting on the plane as soon as he got the text saying ‘it's happening’ even now he got a bit on edge whenever Liam texted him.

He was in South Carolina doing album launches and book signings and he had Niall and Harry keeping a very close eye on Liam whilst he wasn’t home. He was just a little bit over protective of Liam and their unborn child. But it was very understandable as Liam was stubborn.

Louis texted Liam every hour he knew was still daylight back in London. He liked to reassure himself that everything was completely fine with his growing family. He had his mum do a random visit to just double check. He was excited, even though he had this little voice telling him ‘he could be lying, it might not even be yours. Don't get to excited now Louis. Chill out for a second.’ but Louis was still powering ahead because he didn't want to waste time thinking about bullshit like that.

Liam was doing fine until he got into a heated argument with Louis over the phone, none of it was Louis’ fault at all, but Liam felt it was necessary to defend himself until he was yelling explicit words down the line and crying. Louis hung up on him when Liam said ‘I’m not even sure if the baby is yours’ and even Niall and Harry knew what Liam had said was a complete and utter lie.

Niall texted Louis for the rest of the night to sort everything out, which didn’t take that long because Louis already knew Liam was hormonal and out of his mind sometimes, so he forgave him quite easily. Meanwhile Harry was putting Liam to bed, helping him get under the covers and stationed perfectly in the comfort of his bed.

“Harry, can you tell Lou that I didn't mean what I said earlier?” Liam asked tiredly, as he cuddled into his body pillow and sniffled quietly. His hair stuck up in tuffs.

“he said he forgave you, sleep now Li. Everything is fine.” Harry assured, kissing Liam’s forehead before tucking the blanket up and switching the lamp off. He left the door open ajar as he headed back downstairs.  
“he's in bed now. You staying here again tonight?”

“yeah, just until Louis gets back. If something was to happen to him here, it'd be a bit of a struggle. He's new to the place and my place is a good half an hour from here. It's just safer this way.” Niall answered, placing the Tupperware container full of biscuits back in the cupboard and grabbing his cuppa. He pocketed his phone and pecked Harry’s lips “you don't have to stay if you don't want too. I'll be right.”

“actually, I like staying here.” Harry smiled, following Niall upstairs. The two settled in the guest room and once Niall had finished his cuppa he checked on Liam before he went to bed. It'd been a long day.

Liam woke up four hours later in a pool of his own sweat, his stomach was on fire, cramping and burning so badly it was unbearable. He didn’t want to move incase it got any worse. He really would've liked to have called out for Niall, but fifteen minutes later when he couldn't handle the pain any longer, he opened his mouth to shout and started vomiting instead, he managed to roll onto his side at this point. Heaving sadly into the sheets as he gripped his stomach.

“Niall, Niall, Niall.” he cried, he wasn’t sure how loud he was actually yelling but he was in so much pain, it hurt so badly. He breathed heavily through the burning and grabbed a handful of the bedsheets as he started to cry.

Niall woke up with a bad feeling in his chest, he rolled out of bed on instinct and headed into Liam’s room. He was fronted with the horrific sounds of pitiful crying. He switched the light on and stumbled back “Liam, buddy. Hey.” Niall said shakily, he approached the edge of the bed and rubbed his hand along Liam’s forehead.

“Niall, it's burning. It's burning Niall. I - I.” Liam cried, Niall shushed him quietly and grabbed his phone. He instantly called for an ambulance and opened Liam’s cupboard to grab him some fresh clothes as Liam started vomiting again.

“Liam you need to sit up, you can't lay like that. Sit up please love.” Niall all but begged, he left to quickly wake Harry up and then helped Liam sit up despite his protests, he was extremely pale and his eyes had hooded sadly. He was still crying, but now he was asking for Louis instead.

Once Harry had given Niall some clean clothes he pushed the sheets back and Liam started hysterically yelling, he was laying in a huge read blood stain. The other two froze instantly. Niall's eyes welling up with tears. “Liam, sweetheart. It's okay, let's get you up and dressed.” Niall said shakily. They managed to get Liam to sit on the bed as they worked his sticky clothes off gently and replaced them with cleans ones.

The paramedics arrived not long after and got Liam into a comfortable position on the stretcher. Niall had decides to ride with him, he strongly disliked the look of utter fear in Liam’s eyes and how tightly he clutched his hand. Niall felt so terrible.

_‘louis please tell me youre awake.’_

**‘sure am. What are you doin up at this dreadful hour ?’**

_‘liam’_

**‘liam? What's up with him ?’**

_‘we're on our way to hospital. He's in a lot of pain, there was blood and vomiting and fuck Lou, i feel horrible and i just wanna cry. I'm absolutely terrified’_

**‘niall, omg. Im going to come home. I'll be there soon okay ? Keep me posted !’**

_‘thank you Lou, he was asking for you earlier btw. I think he's just as sad as us. I'll keep you posted. Stay safe x’_

**‘I feel so sick, I'll be there as quick as I can !’**

Liam was asleep when they arrived at the hospital and Niall was kept in the waiting room. Harry met him there after he took the sheets off Liam’s bed and rang a few of his producers to postpone rehearsals.

Niall was quite shaken up, his hands trembling horribly as he sat in his chair. He'd had fans walk past him and start squealing in excitement. But he was in no way in a suitable state of mind to be signing autographs or taking pictures. He's easily stressed and quite sensitive and what he'd just seen was horrifying.

The doctor came out and got Niall forty five minutes later and took him up to see Liam, who was in the maternity ward. He looked a lot more pink in the cheeks now. He was being fed pain meds through an I.V and had the baby monitor contraption around his waist. The heartbeat surrounding the room nicely.

“he's okay.” the doctor assured “he's not broken enough that we can't fix it. He had some pretty nasty cramps which is what caused the vomiting and the bleeding was discharge but because of the cramping it was a bit worse than usual. Cramps are common as they are ligaments and things stretching in readying for the day, so bad braxton hicks really, bleeding is also common but we're glad you bought him in. Better to be safe than sorry.” the doctor stated, flipping through his clipboard “also, we discovered that his kidney function on the left side is a little bit lower than the on his right side. The left is only working about 50% so we would like to monitor his right kidney to make sure that continues to function properly. But other than that, they both are very healthy. Even though this was scary, every is definitely going to be okay.”

“what happens if his right kidney doesn't function properly?” Niall asked quietly, he was turning his phone over and over in his hands to steady his shaking fingers.

“worse case scenario we take the baby early and see if that helps. But we don't think that'll happen.” he assured.

“thank you. He really scared the hell out of me.” Niall breathed, touching his heart gently “I better text his boyfriend, thanks again by the way” Niall said sincerely and leaned against the glass door once the doctor left. He cursed for a moment and opened Louis’ contact.

_‘they're both ok. Hes on pain meds but the doc said everything is common and normal. Hes resting atm but hes ok Lou.’_

**‘that's so good ! I was really worried. Give him a kiss for me. Im on my way back as we speak.’**

_‘will do. I think they'll keep him in tho.’_

**‘why ?’**

_‘as I suspected. Kidneys, he'll be sad as he'll think they are giving up on him again. But the doc thinks he'll make it full term.’_

**‘whats wrong with his kidneys tho ?’**

_‘his left kidney is only functioning at 50% so they want to monitor his right kidney to make sure it doesn't start failing either.’_

**‘what happens if it does.’**

_‘baby will come early. But he's only a few weeks out so the baby will be ok.’_

**‘fuck. I'm coming home.’**

\----  
Louis arrived a few days later, looking awfully tired and worried as he dropped his travel bag on the chair and sighed in utter relief when he saw Liam sleeping contently. The younger brunette had his fingers playing with his own hair, twirling it around his index finger as he slept.

“how is he?” Louis asked concerningly, he squeezed into the chair and drew patterns on the back of Liam’s hand.

“he's actually pretty good now. He's tried to go home twice. Stubborn he is.” Harry laughed, pocketing his phone and fixing his beanie. “Niall’s at home doing errands or something.”

“that sounds about right, how's his kidneys though?”

“they haven't actually said anything about those to me. Just took him off the pain meds and did an ultrasound.” Harry shrugged casually “he's in a grumpy mood though, somebody about wearing the wrong pajamas”

Louis laughed at that, sounded like typical Liam, he could only imagine the pout of his face as adorable as it is, it can also be the most frustrating thing Liam does. Because he always gets what he wants when he does it.

“how long has he been asleep for?” Louis questioned.

“about an hour, the nurses wake him up ever hour though, mandatory checks apparently.”

“oh okay, the playing with the hair thing is new. Haven't seen him do that before.”

“heard it helps him sleep better, he started doing it a week ago and hasn't stopped since”

“right.”

\--^--  
Liam woke up not long after to a deep frown on his lips, because of the nurse jabbing him in the hips. It was quite an uncomfortable feeling, just being jostled whilst pregnant ‘that’ close to his bladder. He nearly wet himself every time.

“hey sunshine.” Louis cooed, flicking a strand of hair out of Liam's eyes. He looked a lot bigger to Liam when he was leaning in so close. It startled him actually. He was about to reply when he was confronted with a boot in the belly, grimacing instead.

“those nurses, they wake bubba up every time they poke and prod. What are they even doing?” Liam scoffed, wiggling up until he was sitting upright. Bottom lip jutted out in frustration.

“it's their job, something to do with the kidneys right?”

“my kidneys can just fuck the hell off. I'm done with those pieces of shit.”

“well...aren't you just charming.” Louis mused, managing to link his hand with Liam's despite the younger lads protests. Louis wasn’t one to give up easily.

“you need your kidneys to survive Liam.” Harry put in, standing up from his chair to stretch “you'll regret saying that if something bad was to happen to them later on.” Harry said warningly.

Liam sighed, huffing out a long breath as he pushed his fringe out of his eyes. He shifted so he was laying in a more comfortable position. “I just wanna go home and sleep until this baby wants to be born, because I'll never get any sleep until they're 18 and moving out.”

“you’re on fire today aren't you, grumpy bum.” Louis said as he flicked Liam lightly on the nose, earning the cute little nose scrunch that Liam always does in return.

Liam scoffed and crossed his arms, Louis rolled his eyes fondly at that and swiped his phone open “would you like me to go and ask the nurses when you can go home?”

“yes please, my bed is a lot more comfortable than this” Liam replied.

“of course Liam, I'll be right back” Louis said softly, pressing a kiss to the top of his head and pocketing his phone. Liam flopped back against the pillow and stared up at the muted television. He was entertained by trying to work out what the people were saying, but lip reading.

Louis came back holding two bottles of water and pushing a wheelchair “took some convincing but you're allowed to go home. But the doctor wants to speak to us first” Louis said once he had put the breaks on the wheelchair and was putting the railing down on Liam’s bed.

“can I get changed first?” Liam asked “these are itchy.” Liam pouted. Louis nodded politely and rummaged through Liam's bag until he found a loose sweater and some tracksuit pants. He helped Liam get changed before (with Harry’s help) he placed Liam into the stationed wheelchair and packed up Liam’s rubbish and bags.

The doctor came in a few minutes later and flipped opened his clipboard “so, your kidneys are doing okay they haven't wavered anymore which is very good, we have a few medications and vitamins we would like to put you on but other than that, you’re all good to go.” he said, once he'd given a few prescriptions to Louis he rubbed Liam’s shoulder gently “you take it easy now Liam.” He says softly, they all bidded each other goodbye and departed.

“ready to go home love bug?” Louis asked, pressing a kiss to Liam’s temple. Liam relaxed heavily into Louis’ tender touches and closed his eyes tiredly. He was quite glad Louis was back.

“yeah, I wanna climb into my bed and cuddle with you for a bit.” Liam replied. Louis cooed at that, wheeling Liam out to the car, there was a few fans and paparazzi standing around their car with cameras shoved in their faces. Louis politely declined taking pictures with the fans and helped Liam into the car, doing his seatbelt up.

\--  
When they got home Liam was asleep in the passenger seat of the car, holding his seatbelt gently in his hands. It a pretty picture, Louis always thought Liam was always more at ease when he was asleep. Louis went about unpacking the car first, and took Liam in last.

Liam grunted into Louis’ shoulder, flopping onto his bed and instantly crawling under the warm covers. Louis removed Liam’s ugg boots and changed his shirt and leaking pads. Before shuffling back out to the living room to put the kettle on. He opened his twitter app and posted the picture of Liam asleep in the car with the caption _‘I'm glad to be home !!!’_ Afterwards he climbed into bed with Liam and cuddled closely.

\---^---

Liam went back to his usual self after that he was on a handful of tablets, mostly vitamins and growth simulators, he was chirper and pretty content. Louis went back and forth between meetings and Liam’s place. Both being situated in Surrey was a lot easier, it was an easy ten minute drive.

Liam was currently finalizing the nursery. He had refused to be thrown a baby shower. So both lots of their parents came to stay for a few days, smothering Liam in gifts and food. Liam’s sisters were somewhat the same as his parents, adamant to spoil their baby brother rotten. Harry and Niall practically lived there.

Louis had a meeting and he was extremely on edge, as Liam was only five days away from his due date. Liam had been to three appointments already and he had at least two more to attend to before his expected due date. His belly had dropped and he liked to lay on his back and write lyrics on his phone until it either died or he fell asleep.

When Louis got home from his meeting, he bundled Liam up and headed down to the shops. Liam wanted to be as independent as he could be, he was not going to be bed bound and make Louis do everything for him. Louis wasn’t all that pleased but he wasn't going to argue.

Louis had the shopping basket handles looped through his arm, his other arm curled around Liam’s waist. The younger lad was waddling beside Louis, blabbering away about how his day had been. He was wearing gloves and a beanie, his round bump was hidden by one of his oversized jumpers.

They were buying as many handfuls of lollies and chocolates they could, Louis came to a halt when Liam stopped by the cooler and started reading the labels on the back of the drink bottles. He picked up a juice box and turned it around, squinting his eyes to read the labels.

“what are you looking for love?” Louis asked, leaning in beside Liam, picking up one of the bottles to study the label. Despite not knowing what he was meant to be looking for.

“organic, one hundred percent natural, no artificial colouring.” Liam listed off, placing the juice box down and picking up the one beside it. Skimming over the label before placing it in the basket.

“what are you drinking this stuff for?” Louis frowned.

“it's healthy.” Liam replied, stuffing a few more into the basket. “I think that’ll do. I've tried all the rest.”

The pair then moved onto the ice cream section, two girls standing by Liam and trying to find a polite way to ask for pictures. Liam elbowed Louis in the side, before ushering over to the two. Louis rolled his eyes fondly, because Liam always wanted to please the fans.

The girls wanted a picture with both of them, the smaller girl carefully wrapping her arms around Liam’s waist. Louis was taking the picture. Giving them a thumbs up once he'd taken a bunch. Liam heard them saying _‘I swear that baby’s real. I felt it kick’_ as they walked away.

“hey Lou, have people been saying my bumps fake or something?” Liam asked, he was reading the labels on the ice cream containers now, whilst Louis just shoved a few tubs into the basket.

“where'd you hear that? Have you been looking at trashy articles again? Or twitter?” Louis asked, frowning deeply. “because you and me both know that it's real and nobody else matters.” Louis huffed “nobody else. You understand Liam? Nobody.”

Liam nodded and placed his all natural ice cream into the basket, he then shuffled off to another part of the store. Hands perched on his stomach contently. Louis watched him go for a moment, before he grabbed the basket and started off after Liam.

Once Liam was finished waddling around the shop filling the basket, they headed through the checkout, the cashier trying to unnoticeably take pictures of them both as they picked up their shopping bags.

The two of them were bombarded as they wandered out of the store, Liam using his jumper to shield his eyes. Whilst Louis held a hand out and helped Liam to the car safely. Liam was awfully lucky to have Louis.

When he visited twitter that night there was multiple pictures of them both shopping and heading to their car. Louis looked so fond and smitten in all of them it was unbelievable, it was cute though. He also noticed that a lot of people had been tweeting him and Louis about the baby’s due date.

 _‘baby is due the 2nd of October ! Not long now !’_ with the thumbs up emoji and a picture of him standing side on in a full length mirror, doing his signature pouty face whilst wearing a pair of Louis’ adidas sweat, which he knew the fans were going to go wild about.

Not long after that he fell asleep with a box of biscuits on his chest and Louis took him to bed and tucked him in, pressing light feathery kisses to the top of his forehead and plugging his phone into the charger before placing it on the nightstand.

\--^--  
Liam was angry, very angry. It was around eleven o’clock on the night of his due date and he was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed frustratingly changing the channels on the television. Liam was well aware that his baby wasn’t going to be born on his supposed due date. Their baby was going to be overdue and Liam was mighty pissed off. His twitter had blown up, which forced him to tweet _‘no baby yet ! sorry guys :(‘_

Louis was sitting on the couch beside Liam, puffing out sad tuffs of air. His mum had pre warned him that Liam would more than likely go over due to the lack of discomfort Liam was yet to experience. His belly had only just dropped completely.

“Liam, let’s go to bed. Tomorrow is a new day. It doesn’t matter that our baby hasn’t come yet. They absolutely aren’t ready yet, you can’t rush these things.” Louis said softly, Liam sighed at that but switched the television off, standing up from the couch. His lips had puckered up and he had a firm line on his forehead. Louis rubbed his hand down Liam’s back and helped him into his bed. “sleep tight love bug.” Louis sighed, pressing a kiss to Liam’s hairline.

\----

Over the course of the following few days, Louis (when he couldn't be there) got Harry and Niall to monitor Liam. They had spoken to his doctor and he'd told him that all he could do was let it take its course for the next two weeks at least. Liam wasn’t pleased.

Harry had read into _‘natural ways to induce labor’_ articles and websites and had written a big list for Louis. There was quite a few different types of ways and Liam was pretty keen to try them out. Anything to naturally help him get his baby.

So on the fourth of October, Louis had the full day off and went out to buy everything he needed. They had to try everything on the list, minus the ones Liam had crossed off earlier. There was a few Louis was keen to watch Liam try out.

The first one they tried was _‘nipple stimulation’_ which at first creeped Liam out to know end, after a few weird feelings in his gut, he told himself that it didn't work and it wasn't going too. The next thing they tried was the highly spoken about _‘spicy food’_ method. Liam hates spicy food, but he ate it anyway in the hope that it would help. Nothing.

He then tried _‘pineapple and dates’_ and still got nothing. Louis gave him a massage, but it did nothing but make his back twice as sore. They tried _‘walking’_ taking the dogs for a walk and stopping by the corner shops to by some milk to go with the spicy food. They went for a long drive down a really bumpy road and all it did was made Liam sleepy and grumpy.

He blew up balloons and bounced on his body ball for an hour straight, whilst Louis drew patterns on his back and played with his hair. He had a good cry whilst watching _‘my sister's keeper and the fault in our stars’_ and lastly the pair had sex before bed, because that was the most common way to induce labor naturally.

The next morning Liam had cramping in his lower abdomen, he could feel pressure pushing heavily now but nothing too discomforting to make him panic, so he sent Louis off to work and started going about his day like normal.

Harry came around at four o’clock that afternoon with some yoga mats and some lunch. They had a late lunch first and then Harry helped Liam get changed into more suitable yoga wear. They set it up in the living room and Harry put on some quiet, slow music that was making Liam want to have a nice nap.

Liam was enjoying himself, he wasn’t so keen on the downward dog but he did it anyway. Harry was quite good at instructing Liam through it all, if Liam wasn’t trying to induce labor he would've mocked Harry for his huge passion for yoga.

They did yoga until six o'clock when Niall and Louis arrived home for dinner. Liam ate his food contently and then had a shower and was in bed by eight o’clock. Louis stayed up for another hour before he too climbed into bed. He had to be in the car by ten thirty, so an hour was a good enough rest.

Liam woke up at eleven o’clock with a pain thumping in his lower abdomen, he shifted into a more comfortable position and the pain eased and went away. He got up and went to the bathroom, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Roughly twenty five minutes the pain had come back, a bit more painful than the first time. He let it slide and dozed back off.

He was awoken by a huge pain again, it felt like his cramps had come back but ten times worse. This was when he realized that he was more than likely in labor and he started panicking.

“Louis, Louis, you have to wake up!” Liam cried, he was definitely in a huge panic now. Until he realized Louis wasn’t in bed. He was doing an exclusive interview with James Corden who had personal flown to London to do this interview. Liam knew he was in trouble now.

Louis had organized for Harry and Niall to stay that night because he wasn't going to be home. Niall had woken to Liam slamming doors in his bedroom and with furrowed brows he climbed out of bed and cautiously wandered into the bedroom. He found Liam hunched over his dresser clutching his stomach.

“Liam, are you okay?” Niall asked quietly. Liam's frantic eyes flew up, Niall could sense and see the fear in Liam's face.

“I'm in labor.” Liam said scarcely “I can't find my baby bag and Louis isn't here.” Liam panicked. Niall jumped into action after this, he woke Harry up and got Liam changed into some warmer pajamas. Harry had Liam’s baby bag and his phone pressed to his ear as Niall helped Liam down the stairs.

Liam was laying across the backseat because that was the most comfortable position at that time. Niall decided to drive whilst Harry continuously dialled Louis number. They weren't as panicked as they thought they would be.

Liam was mid contraction when Louis texted Harry saying **‘whats going on ? We had to call a break so I could reply !’**

_‘Liam's in labor. Contractions are currently twenty minutes apart. Just hurry things up ok?’_

**‘trust him to go into labor when I'm out ! Fuck. I'm on my way ! Thanks Haz !”**

_‘my pleasure Louis!’_

Harry placed his phone in the center console of the car and turned to give Liam his attention. Liam had just finished breathing through his contraction and had uncurled his hands, relaxing them against the plush leather.

“Louis’ on his way.” Harry said softly, taking Liam’s hand when the older lad held it out pleadingly. You could tell Liam was shitting himself. This was new to all of them, but they could see why Liam was so upset.

They arrived to the hospital not long after that, and Liam was taken straight into the delivery ward. The nurses get him comfortable first, giving him the green whistle to use through his contractions whenever he needed too. The strapped a contraption around Liam’s waist. It was tracking the baby’s heartbeat as well as his, it echoing around the room perfectly.

Liam relaxed heavily when Louis rang to say he was in the car and on his way there as they spoke. The nurses had come to check his dilation and he was a good four centimetres. They had to break his water in order to continue things. Liam wasn’t so keen but he took the two minutes of discomfort and was relieved when he felt the oozing in between his legs.

The pain got worse after that and he was crying uncomfortably into the pit of his arm whilst the green whistle stayed tightly between his lips. He wanted the epidural, but he couldn't have it until he was at least eight centimetres dilated. He wanted to do this all natural, but Liam was certain that definitely wasn’t going to be happening.

Louis was panicking because his driver was late, but to top things off it started raining and his driver missed the supposed turn because of it. Louis was fuming, deciding to run through the rain to the hospital instead. It was an easy five minute walk, but it took Louis three minutes in a wet, slippy running style. He was drenched through when he made it through the doors of the hospital, heaving in relief once he was sheltered from the bitter downfall and cold.

A nurse showed Louis up, taking him down to Liam’s room which was room number twelve. Louis took his jumper off once he reached the door, running his fingers through his wet hair as he pushed the door open. Liam was red faced and teary eyed, but he seemed to be doing okay, there wasn’t much yelling or screaming so Louis was relieved in that aspect. He slipped his shoes off to stop the wet scrunching in his socks and placed them under his jumper on the nightstand.

“Hey Li, I made it.” Louis said in relief, hands instantly locking with Liam’s once the brown eyed lad had made eye contact with Louis. You could see the fear and general panic in Liam’s eyes and it frightened Louis too. This was all so real, they were going to be having a baby soon, one that was going to be real and alive, a baby that couldn’t be returned. Louis was more frightened he was going to screw up.

Liam settled immensely once Louis was there, his whole body relaxed and he managed to get out of bed and go for a small walk, holding Louis’ hand and walking quite slowly as he gripped the wall. It was painful and he definitely wanted it to be over soon. Liam wanted to hold his baby in his arms and be able to coo over it for the next one hundred and sixty years.

Liam sat on his bouncy ball for a little while as well, and was a nice seven centimetres dilated when he climbed back into bed afterwards, he was moving at a decent pace and the nurses were more than happy to given him the epidural at that stage. The situated him comfortably, letting him hold Louis’ hand whilst they jabbed the numbing needle into the centre of his back, he launched forward, tightening his hold on Louis’ fingers until he was safely stationed on his back again. His belly was so numb that he managed to slip into a restless nap.

At two forty seven a nurse had declared Liam at ten centimetres. He was awake at this point, having felt a heavy weight pushing down inbetween his legs quite forcibly. This was it for the both of them, they were young, stupid and probably in love with each other, but they were both having a baby together from nothing other than a stupid, drunken one night stand. Liam wasn’t going to call this a mistake though, he was going to call this a beautiful wonderful, unexpected miracle.

Louis was already getting teary eyed and Liam hadn’t even pushed yet, he was holding onto Louis’ hand quite tightly as they prepped him for the hardest part of the whole thing (as he had been told apparently) He spread his legs so his knees were securely pressed against the edge of the bed railings, it was as comfortable as he had felt all day, despite the epidural of course.

The nurse rubbed Liam happily on the knee and gave him the go ahead, and before Liam knew it he was pushing for ten seconds, breathing for five and then repeating the process, doing it all whilst clutching Louis’ hand. Each push felt more and more harder, his lungs felt like they were going to explode and he was still wondering how a baby was going to be brought into the world like this. The burning only got worse when the baby’s shoulders had to be squeezed out, they had to be one of the hardest parts. He pushed down harshly, his face going as red as it could, his legs begging to rest comfortably on the nice surface of the mattress again, and he generally felt sorry for Louis’ poor fingers.

“you’re nearly there Liam, the head is out. The hard part is nearly over, only a few more pushes to go and your baby will be here.” She assured giving Liam’s knee another rub, he was panting heavily, like had just run a marathon unfit for two hundred miles. He braced himself and pushed again when the next contraction was felt, with each push he was getting more and more tired, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was getting his baby out of this, he would’ve given up ages ago.

“shoulders are out, one more big push Liam. That’s all you’ve gotta do.” The nurse called over Liam’s rashed breathing, he looked up at Louis was had glanced down and given him the thumbs up, pressing a kiss behind his ear and whispering ‘you got this love’ and Liam knew he meant it. He sucked in a big inhale of air and grabbed a hold of the cold metal railing and Louis’ wrist, he pushed down as hard as he could, his head sinking further into the pillow mound. He flopped back into the plush bed when felt the pressure disappearing completely, a loud wailing cry filling the room loudly.

Liam felt his heart melt into goo whilst he was crying loudly. Louis somehow managing to cut the cord in his blabbering state. Liam watched the nurses take their baby away momentarily as another nurse placed a nice cold face wash on his sweaty forehead. He relaxed into the cooling temperature and managed to completely push out the afterbirth on his own (the placental expulsion) His whole body felt like it was floating after this, a doctor coming into give their baby the all clear and remove the epidural once Liam had a nice line of stitches and was comfortably cocooned under his blankets.

A very petite and young nurse came in soon after, smiling politely as she held the blue blanket quite close to her chest. “Would you like to see your baby?” she asked, Liam was nodding eagerly, hands already out in desperation to hold the life he’d just carried for the past nine months. The nurse placed the bundle of joy down into Liam’s arms carefully and slipped some paperwork onto the nightstand. “Congratulations on the birth of your little boy.” She said before she left. The waterworks had started all over again for the both of them. Liam had his nose and fingers buried under the tiny blue blanket fondly, pressing little kisses to their son’s soft and petite skin. Louis through all his blurry tears was managing to take pictures on his phone.

“do we have a name Li?” Louis asked, the two of them had been over names together and they had a few they both liked, agreeing that they would choose once they had their child in their arms. Liam nodded after that a smile already on his teary face, his eyes never once leaving their son’s precious face.

“Ackley.” Liam replied, glancing up at Louis momentarily “Ackley Jace Tomlinson-Payne” Liam beamed, wiping his nose on a tissue he found, he turned his eyes back down to their baby boy. Louis could feel his heart oozing. He now had the hard task of going through with a paternity test, but Louis already knew he was in too deep, he was going to be here for this baby either way.

“Perfect name.” Louis cooed fondly, finally sitting down in the chair beside Liam’s bed he hadn’t realised how sore his legs were until now, he pressed the top of his head against the edge of Liam’s forehead, letting Ackley wrap his tiny little fingers around his pinky finger. He was tiny, absolutely tiny.

Louis wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, until a nurse came to collect their son so they could weigh and measure him. Louis followed the nurse outside to ask for a paternity test. It was something he didn’t want Liam to know about, he knew very well that his management were going to need proof and this is what he had to do it ensure that Ackley was actually his.

Louis was placed in a small room and they took a swap of his saliva from the roof and side of his mouth, before repeating the same process with Ackley, once this was done they had to take a saliva sample from Liam and the look in his eyes when he realised what was going on nearly made Louis forget about the whole thing. But it had to be done.

The nurse came back with Ackley soon after, the baby quietly swaddled in his blanket, Liam took him first of course. Letting him have a feed before giving Louis a cuddle because he was so exhausted, he needed a sleep. He slept for a few hours before they moved both Liam and Ackley to the maternity ward, in a nice private room overlooking the outskirts of London. Louis could faintly see the London Eye.

Louis posted a picture of Liam and Ackley together on his instagram with the caption _‘IT’S A BOY !!!’_

Then afterwards he posted a separate picture of Ackley swaddled in the small cribs the hospital provide with _‘Ackley Jace Payne, born this morning October 6th at 3:15am weighing 7 pd and eleven oz. Welcome to the world little guy !!!’_

Louis dozed off not long after Liam did and was woken every two hours when Ackley wanted to be fed, cuddled or have his diaper changed. Louis would help out wherever he could, which was a lot of cuddling and nappy changing, Liam did all the feeding and lulling him back off to sleep.

\--  
At two thirty whilst Louis was helping Liam pack his bags and make the bed, a nurse politely knocked on the door and handed Louis a yellow manilla envelope. He knew exactly what it was as he sat down on the nicely made bed. Liam was holding Ackley, a puzzled but worried frown on his face as he continued to sway his hips and pressing light kisses into Ackley’s hair.

Louis pulled the document out and ran his eyes over the many many confusing numbers that sat in rows, they made no sense to Louis, but he tried to make understanding of them as he lower his eyes further down the page. His eyes came to a stop at a three column box perfectly at the bottom. He placed it down on the bed beside himself and ushered Liam over to sit down in his lap.

**99.9999% positive.**

Liam was no liar, Louis had a son. A beautiful baby boy that now that he studied his face had a lot of his features, Liam was pressing kisses behind Louis’ ear a ‘told you so’ lingering somewhere in the air but Louis was so over the moon and happy. It was official now, he was a father.

Once he had calmed down and recouped himself, he picked up the bags and slung them over the handles of Liam’s wheelchair. Louis then helped Liam changed Ackley into an adorable outfit, having the wonderful job of getting the newborn’s socks on. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Ackley’s nose, before he placed him gently into his car carrier case. Liam slid into the wheelchair and took the car carrier from Louis once their son was perfectly stationed.

Liam sat in the back silently with Ackley the whole way home, Louis finding him asleep when he pulled up at Liam’s big home, he snapped a picture before grabbing the bags and unlocking the front door to the house. He bundled Liam out of the car first and helped him onto the couch before retrieving Ackley and leaving him in his carrier to sleep on the coffee table.

He posted the picture on instagram and twitter with the heart eye emoji when he was making himself a much needed brew. He was just as exhausted as Liam was. Once he had his tea in hand, he left Liam snoozing on the couch and took Ackley upstairs to the office. He thought it was better if he monitored their son so Liam’s could have a proper nap.

He took a few scans of the paternity test and sent them off to his management team. The hardest part was getting this through to them, they had kept it a secret for so long, fought the _‘LIAM DOESN’T KNOW WHO THE BABY’S FATHER IS’_ articles and ignored the never ending questions from the media and fans on twitter. Louis knew this was such a private thing and when everybody finds out he is the father, they both will have to deal with many other questions that is bound to be asked. Louis wasn’t concerned about himself because he was use to it all, he was more concerned about Liam and his well being, being new to the world of harsh media and awful unreliable articles.

He sent a picture of it to his mum and said **‘Ackley says hi Grandma Jay ! He’s mine.’** and he received a text back almost instantly with a bunch of emojis that explained her excitement. Lottie facetimed him, his mum in view with prominent tear stains on her cheeks and all he could hear her saying was ‘my baby boy has a baby now.’ It made Louis emotional too, how his life had worked out, it was still full of uncertainty and Louis was still growing up, he was young and dumb and everything he did was so new and unusual that Louis could only go about it one day at a time.

He tried to keep the tears on a down low, but he was quite overwhelmed. In all of Louis’ life he had never pictured or imagined his life working out like this. He was successful in so many fields it didn’t matter which one he chose, he always ended up winning awards for it. In all of the relationships he’d ever been in had never felt the way he did when he was with Liam. He barely knew Liam but he already felt like he knew everything there was to know about him. Liam was the placid one of the relationship when Louis felt like killing somebody, all Liam had to do was come up with a better opinion and Louis would realize, he was always going to need a Liam in his life.

The thing that caught him the most was, Louis had grown up with the world telling him ‘you will never had kids’ all because he wanted to be with another man. He’d been with girls, but it was like fondling your sister and Louis’ found that incredibly disgusting. But being with a man felt ten times better. He felt more at ease. Here Louis was, right now with a baby of his own. Of course it wasn’t on the best of circumstances. But Louis wasn’t about to change it for the world.

He chuckled through his watery eyes and placed his laptop on the desk as he unstrapped Ackley gently and bought him out of his carrier, the baby was still sound asleep little fists balled up and his beanie falling off. Louis instantly rested him in his arms and fixed the newborn’s beanie, shuffling closer to his laptop he loosened the blanket swaddle ever so slightly and pressed light kisses to the top of his son’s forehead.

“you guys will have to come visit when Liam and Ackley has settled in.” Louis grinned. “Well, more likely when Ackley has settled in and Liam’s had a decent sleep.” Louis corrected, angling his laptop screen down. It was still so surreal that he had a son, part him and part Liam.

“you just text us when you guys are ready for visitors and we’ll come over, he’s absolutely gorgeous Louis, you’ve both done well.” Jay replied and Louis was beaming at that. They definitely had done well. He was proud of Liam, a lot of people in Liam’s position would either abort or only go ahead with it for the cash. Liam didn’t do it purely because of Louis’ decision, he did what he felt was right.

Louis facetimed his Mother for another twenty minutes before he ended the call and cradled Ackley against his chest whilst he dealt with the horrific job of dealing with his management. Louis downright hated his management team, they never listened to a word he said and Louis was left fuming through his teeth.

Louis ended up putting Ackley in his nursery, leaving the door open ajar as he phoned up his management team to have the never ending heated conversation. When he felt his temper rising and the anger brewing in the pit of his stomach, he did what felt best and hung up his phone, slamming it down onto the coffee table he proceeded to walk around the office until he had calmed himself down.

As Louis was wheeling himself back in closer to the desk he was welcomed by Liam, who had his fingers pulling through his hair and his eyes barely open, he looked exhausted. Louis tutted to himself in pure frustration and stationed Liam comfortable in his lap. Louis had his arms curled around Liam’s waist, the younger lad linking their hands together as he watched Louis drive the mouse around the desk, clicking on pages and saving tabs.

“what are you doing awake love. Did I wake you?” Louis asked, he would of thought Liam would’ve slept for another hour or so, he looked exhausted and he definitely needed his beauty sleep. It hadn’t even been twenty four hours since Liam’d given birth.

“I heard you up here and I was trying to figure out where Ackley was.” Liam said through a yawn, Louis swore mentally to himself, pressing a soft kiss to Liam’s forehead he shuffled Liam back onto his feet and helped him into his bedroom. Louis changed Liam’s clothes first, before tucking him into the comfort of his bed and pressing another kiss to his forehead.

“You sleep tight now Liam. You need to rest okay?” Louis said with a hint of fondness. Liam nodded through his heavy eyelids and rolled over, curling his hands under his pillow for extra support, he easily lulled back to sleep.

\------  
It took Louis three weeks to get approve from his management team to be able to tell the world the news he had been dying to spread since day one. Louis had organized a special interview just for the announcement. He was keeping it a surprise from everybody, including Liam. It was a nerve wrecking feeling, knowing that his life was about to flipped upside down all over again, but in the best possible way.

He went for a morning jog with Liam, who had practically lost all his baby weight in the first week of being home and off all his medication. When he got back to Liam’s he helped him bathe and dress Ackley before he gave them both a kiss and drove back home to his flat where he ate, showered and got dressed.

He drove himself to the interview destination, once he’d parked his car and texted Liam and Harry he flopped down into his stylist chair and let her work her magic on his overgrown hair. He was then redressed and informed once again that this interview was going to be aired live. They didn’t happen often nowadays but it’s how Louis wanted it to be.

As Louis stepped out onto the set, he texted Niall to make sure he had Liam situated on the right channel. He’d kick himself if Liam missed it. He had Preston, his bodyguard hook his usb into the television to the side of them, as he got comfortable on the red leather couch. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, he was so nervous even though he had rehearsed plenty of times.

Louis waited patiently for the interviewer, who was a middle aged male. He greeted himself as Danny and Louis was slightly relieved his management team was listening to him from a change. Everything seemed to be going okay already and Louis had barely started.

The interview started off about his tour and album which Louis answered easily, going to into brief detail because he wasn’t here to talk about his tour, this wasn’t a promo interview. Danny seemed to get the hint and moved on, this time he asked about Liam and this was when Louis knew they were heading down the right path.

Talking about Liam was so natural for Louis, he did it with a smile on his face and pure contentment, the brown eyed lad was one of the most positive people in his life and Louis was so grateful to have him, he didn’t know what he would do without him. Louis fell into an easy conversation about Liam just blabbering on and on about him like he was a love sick teenager, but in a way he was.

“tell us Louis, what is it like having a baby around now?” Danny asked and Louis was pumped now, he heart was beating so hard and fast he thought it was going to beat right out of his chest. He shifting so he was sitting more comfortably on the couch and curled his hands together.

“to be honest it’s been amazing. I mean, it hards to express how life changing something can be until it’s happening to that person. You have to live it to believe it, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Liam came to me in a restaurant on a rainy Tuesday to tell me he was pregnant and the warning lights went off in my head, coming to terms to something like that is nerve wrecking. We kept it from the press and the fans because it’s hard to tell others when you’re famous, it different to just being in a normal relationship and telling your family. Telling your family is basically telling the world in my aspect.” Louis begun, he had totally forgotten about all the stuff he had pre written and memorized, he was just letting the words flow out of his mouth.

“But now that Ackley is here and me and Liam are in a stable and healthy relationship, I would personally like to state that Ackley is my son. I know this is shocking for a lot of people and it was a shock for both of us too but it’s great, it’s so amazing. I feel overwhelmingly lucky to be given this. But this isn’t just about our baby boy, I’m a better person now, I’ve changed in a lot of ways and I owe a lot of it to Liam as well. I’m not dating Liam because we have a son together, I’m dating Liam because he’s so amazingly wonderful that everybody deserves somebody like them in their life, it so horrendously cheesy and cringy but it’s how I generally feel. I am not only the father of a gorgeous baby, I’m also madly in love and ten times a better person and it feels amazing.” Louis sighed out, his shoulders sinking at the weight being lifted off his shoulders. He was gleaming.

The interviewer wrapped it up with the usb pictures. Most of them came from a folder Louis had found on Liam’s laptop called ‘loves’ They were all extremely adorable and Louis wasn’t going to lie when he felt like parading what he had, both Liam and Ackley. Because never in a million years did he ever expect to get anybody like them.  
Louis returned home with a beaming smile, he had received multiple text messages and his twitter had exploded, but it all had seemed positive so far. He posted a picture on instagram and twitter, the photos were of Ackley with the caption **‘my boy ! Ackley Jace Tomlinson - Payne’**

When he arrived at Liam’s place he was greeted by a mouthful of hair and an armful of Liam, who was squeezing him tightly, pressing kisses to the edge of his face and hugging him so tightly Louis feared his lungs were going to give way on him. He let out a breathless laugh and pressed a kiss to Liam’s forehead. “I figure you saw the interview then.”

“I did, Lou that makes me so proud.” Liam grinned, Louis could tell that Liam was nearly beaming as bright as he was, he couldn’t blame him though. They weren’t hiding anything anymore, the world knew and Louis was pretty certain he wasn’t going to be able to make it out Liam’s door by morning, but he didn’t care. He had the two best things he could ever ask for.

 

**\- Four Years Later -**

Louis was hunched over trying to catch his breath as Ackley ran across the back yard with the ball in his hands, Liam was laughing from the beach chair he’d stationed under the only tree in their backyard with his laptop perched on his stomach, their puppy asleep at his feet. It wasn’t long before he was greeted with an armful of Ackley who was trying to climb up into the chair with Liam, squealing loudly as Louis scooped him up above his shoulders and zoomed him across the lawn.

Liam and Louis had been married for a year and Liam was pregnant with their second child. Louis was focusing mostly on his music career. Signed with Liam’s record label ‘Payne Productions Ltd’ alongside Niall and Harry who played a big part in their life. Liam’s most favourite thing was staying in the studio late at night writing music with Louis until they had mastered the melody or tune. Louis had gone platinum three times since being produced by Liam and he was loving life.

Of course the pair had their ups and downs like most couples did, but Liam couldn’t imagine it any other way. The way Louis behaviours with Ackley is Liam’s favourite living memory, how invested Louis was from the day the DNA test came in, Liam was so utterly grateful and he’s very much in love. Marrying Louis was also one of his favourite memories.

Eventually Louis was faking an injury so he didn’t have to run around anymore, and Ackley shuffled off to play with their puppy instead, so Louis flopped down on the to small bench chair next to Liam, and the brown eyed lad had to place his laptop down on the grass to create more room for Louis’ legs. But within a blink of an eye Liam had an armful of Louis who was pressing kisses to Liam’s lips and playing with his hair. Liam rolled his eyes fondly and curled his arms around the older lads waist.

“You know I love you right?” Louis hummed, he was brushing Liam’s fringe out of his eyes a wicked smile on his chapped lips. Louis was an absolute doll but Liam knew right at that current moment that Louis wanted something from him.

“yes, you tell me all the time. But what do you want?”

“what makes you think I want anything Liam?”

“I know when you want something Tommo” Liam replied. Louis sat up in Liam’s grip, mock hurt as he jutted out his bottom lip.

“Fine, do you think you could make us something to eat?” Louis asked, ushering between himself and Ackley who had just face planted into the garden mulch, one thing he had discovered about that kid was he never cried, he was a pure godsend.

“of course I can, one big bowl of fruit coming right up.”

“fruit again Payno? This is the fourth time this week.”

“If I have to eat healthy so do you, deal with it my love.” Liam cooed, pecking Louis’ lips as he climbed up from his spot on the beach chair and stretched his limbs, satisfied with the cracks. He shuffled across the lawn and into their kitchen.

Liam couldn’t begin to describe how lucky he was with Ackley, Louis and their second child on the way Liam felt pretty blessed. Ackley was the most perfect child an even combination of them both, he was so polite like Liam yet so wild like Louis.

Despite everything neither of the lads would change what they’d done for the world, they were going to praise Ackley for the rest of their lives for being the miracle that came into their life unexpectedly and bought them both together, to help them realize that they were both meant to be together. Ackley was the love of their life and the feeling in Liam’s chest was indescribable.

All Liam could say was his family was his safe haven and he was so utterly grateful.


End file.
